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

Pray for the Telugu of Sri Lanka

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Telugu
Language Family: Dravidian

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Media Resources in Telugu:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Telugu:

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Or check out the Telugu bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
readRevelation 4:11

Pray that the good news will advance and people will recognize and worship the One who created all things by His will, giving glory and honor to Him alone.

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.
readMatthew 25:36

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will honor Jesus and find joy as they take care of those in need.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

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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