Home to some of the world’s most ancient surviving civilizations, the nation of India is both vast and varied in terms of people, language, and cultural traditions.

India is also the world’s largest democracy. …and according to United Nations estimates, the country’s current population of over 1.4 billion people, is expected to overtake China’s in 2028 – to become the world’s largest!

In a nation that is the globe’s seventh largest in area, India is a pluralist, multilingual, and multi-ethnic society that is home to more than 2,370 people-groups – with the main groups being Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil.

While Hindi and English are the country’s two official languages, there are 1,652 regional and local languages. As for religious beliefs, Hinduism ranks first at nearly 80 percent. Islam is second at 14 percent, with Christianity placing third at 2.3 percent.

In 1956, FEBC International began shortwave broadcasts in two Indian languages from the Philippines – this was followed by establishing an in-country ministry presence in New Delhi in 1960. Four years later, studios and offices were set up in the southern city of Bangalore, where the Indian ministry is currently headquartered.

Hindu – 79.8%
Muslim – 14.2%
Christian – 2.3%
Sikh – 1.7%
Buddhist – 0.7%
Other – 1.3%