Among the Indian languages, which one is spoken maximum in the world after Hindi?

Answer: (c) Bengali

After Hindi, Bengali has the most speakers among Indian languages, in India and worldwide (counting Bangladesh).

• ✓ (c) Census figures put Bengali second to Hindi, ahead of Telugu, Marathi and Tamil.
• ✗ (a) Telugu has fewer speakers than Bengali.
• ✗ (b) Tamil has fewer speakers than Bengali.
• ✗ (d) Malayalam has far fewer speakers.
• • Since then In the 2011 Census table printed in NCERT, Bengali is again second after Hindi.

Remember · Hindi first, Bengali second among Indian languages.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Democratic Politics – II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2008, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 2008: the answer shown is the one the sources above support. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error