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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Chenchu of India

The Chenchu of India, numbering approximately 74,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Telugu-speaking Scheduled Tribe of Andhra Pradesh whose name is said to derive from chettu, "tree," reflecting their forest life. They traditionally gathered honey and tubers, and many now work in agriculture They are an Indigenous people, with Chenchu as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the South Asian Tribal people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Hinduism. They primarily speak Chenchu.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: South Asian Tribal
Primary Language(s): Chenchu (cde)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 74,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG041918
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Pray for the Chenchu of India

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

93%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chenchu
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Chenchu Speakers

Media Resources in Chenchu:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Chenchu:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Chenchu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Chenchu 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.

Next steps for the Chenchu:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Chenchu of India

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

...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.

And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see that God provides for their needs and be content in His provision so that they may excel in every good work.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Chenchu Across Countries (ROP3 - 111775) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ChenchuPG041918ChenchuIndia74,000No Longer UnreachedChenchuFolk Hinduism

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 Data Standards section.

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