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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Telugu of Sri Lanka

The Telugu of Sri Lanka, numbering approximately 12,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Indo-Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the India states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Puducherry. They are an Diaspora people, in the Telugu people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Hinduism. They primarily speak Telugu.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Telugu

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Sri Lanka
People Cluster: Telugu
Primary Language(s): Telugu (tel)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 12,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG006443

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Pray for the Telugu of Sri Lanka

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Telugu
Language Family: Dravidian

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Media Resources in Telugu:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Telugu:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Telugu bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Telugu

The Telugu are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Telugu

The Telugu are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Telugu

The Telugu are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Telugu of Sri Lanka

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self- made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
readColossians 2:23

Pray for those without Christ, that they will see the emptiness of human traditions and turn to the truth and grace found in Jesus.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
readPhilippians 3:20-21

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember their citizenship is in heaven.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Telugu (ROP3 - 109930) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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