What if India’s English-speaking population is larger than the combined population of the principal English-speaking countries? It may sound improbable. But the numbers point to a remarkable possibility.
There is a statistic about India that deserves much greater attention.
India may have as many as 750 million people who know English—not necessarily as their mother tongue, but as a second or third language, and in varying degrees of proficiency.
If that estimate is anywhere near reality, it produces a striking comparison: The number of Indians who can use English could be considerably larger than the combined population of the major countries where English is the predominant native language.
This is not a claim that 750 million Indians speak English with the fluency of a Londoner, New Yorker or Australian. Nor is there an official survey establishing that exact number. India's last comprehensive Census language data are from 2011, and the Census measures bilingualism and trilingualism rather than asking a simple contemporary question such as: “Can you read, write and speak English?”
That caveat is important. But it should not obscure the larger phenomenon.
{{/usCountry}}That caveat is important. But it should not obscure the larger phenomenon.
{{/usCountry}}India has quietly built one of the world's largest English-language human resources.
Consider the demographic arithmetic.
The US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand together have a population of roughly half a billion. India's population is nearly three times that. Even if only a substantial minority of Indians can use English, the absolute number can become extraordinary.
This is the paradox of English in India.
For Britain, English is the mother tongue of the overwhelming majority. For America, it is the dominant language. In Australia and New Zealand, English is similarly embedded in everyday life. In India, however, English has largely been acquired rather than inherited.
And that difference is precisely what makes India's English story so interesting.
English in India is not merely a foreign language. It has become a bridge language across one of the world's most linguistically diverse societies.
A Tamil-speaking engineer can work with a Bengali-speaking colleague in Bengaluru. A Telugu-speaking entrepreneur in Hyderabad can negotiate with a Gujarati businessman in Ahmedabad. A Malayali doctor can communicate professionally with a patient from Punjab. An Indian software engineer can work with a client in California, London or Singapore without first learning the client's language.
English has therefore acquired a special role in India's national and international life.
The colonial origins of English are undeniable. But what happened after Independence is equally significant. India did not simply retain English; it Indianised it, expanded its social base and turned it into an instrument of education, administration, science, technology, commerce and global employment.
The information-technology revolution accelerated this transformation dramatically.
When Indian software professionals began serving global corporations from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon, English became an economic asset. Business-process outsourcing, call centres, consulting, medicine, financial services, aviation, hospitality and higher education added millions more opportunities.
Today, English gives Indians access to a global market without requiring them to leave India.
That is an extraordinary advantage for a country of India's size.
It also explains why India's much-discussed demographic dividend should not be measured only in terms of the number of young people entering the workforce. Language capability is itself part of human capital.
A young Indian who possesses technical skills and can communicate effectively in English is potentially employable not merely in the Indian economy but in a worldwide marketplace.
The opportunity is becoming even larger because of artificial intelligence.
AI will undoubtedly reduce the importance of some language barriers. Translation tools are becoming extraordinarily capable. But that does not diminish the value of English. It may actually increase it by allowing English-speaking Indians to participate more easily in global knowledge networks, research, technology development, digital services and international business.
There is another dimension to this story: the Indian diaspora.
The Government of India and international organisations have used different definitions of the Indian diaspora. The Indian government has described the overseas Indian community as numbering around 32 million, while UN data on people born in India and living abroad produce a smaller figure because they measure international migrants by country of birth rather than the broader population of people of Indian origin.
That distinction matters.
The wider Indian-origin population stretches across North America, Britain, Europe, the Gulf, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and elsewhere. A large proportion of the newer generations are English-speaking.
So, the global Indian English network is bigger than India's borders.
Imagine the possibilities when India's enormous domestic pool of English users is connected to millions of people of Indian origin working in business, technology, medicine, academia, government and the professions around the world.
This is not simply a linguistic phenomenon. It is an economic and geopolitical asset.
India's English advantage also has a powerful educational dimension.
English gives Indian students access to a huge global body of scientific and technical literature. It facilitates international research collaboration. It enables Indian universities, researchers and professionals to engage directly with institutions abroad.
But there is a danger in celebrating the English advantage without acknowledging its limitations.
Knowing English is not the same as mastering English.
There are millions of Indians who may understand basic English but cannot communicate comfortably in it. Others may read English but find speaking it difficult. Still others may speak it fluently but lack the vocabulary or writing skills required for professional work.
The quality of English education therefore matters enormously.
India should not make the mistake of treating English as an either-or choice between English and Indian languages. The real opportunity lies in English plus Indian languages.
A child who is literate in her mother tongue and proficient in Hindi or another Indian language, while also possessing strong English skills, has a much wider cultural and economic horizon than someone confined to a single language.
India's linguistic diversity need not be an obstacle to globalisation. Properly handled, it can become one of the country's greatest strengths.
There is also a historical irony here.
The language introduced into India during British rule has become one of the principal instruments through which Indians engage with the world—and increasingly through which the world engages with India.
The country's English-speaking population is now potentially large enough to constitute a global economic ecosystem of its own.
If the estimate of 750 million Indians knowing English is eventually substantiated by a robust national survey, it would represent an extraordinary statistic: a single country possessing an English-using population larger than the total population of the world's principal English-speaking nations combined!
Even if the eventual number proves significantly lower, the underlying phenomenon remains unmistakable.
India has hundreds of millions of people with some degree of access to the world's most widely used international language.
That is a competitive advantage.
It can help India sell software, provide healthcare, conduct research, build companies, attract investment, export professional services and participate in global conversations.
India has spent decades talking about its demographic dividend.
Perhaps it is time to recognise another dividend hiding in plain sight: India's English language dividend.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by S Venkat Narayan, senior journalist, specialist in global affairs, New Delhi.