Telugus in Mumbai

The Mumbai Telugus are a social community of Telugu language speakers living in Mumbai, the Financial capital of India. There are about 15 lakh telugu speakers in Mumbai.This includes both those who are born in Mumbai, and those born in Andhrapradesh/Telangana or elsewhere in the telugu diaspora. They are one of the major communtity in Mumbai today.

History

The Telugu community's links with Maharashtra date back to Chhatrapati Shivaji's times.Old records say that the major batch of Telugus arrived in Maharashtra in the 17th century. A devastating famine and the Razakar excesses in Hyderabad fuelled fresh migration to Mumbai in the early part of the 20th century when the city was in the midst of a textile-real estate boom, and hectic construction activity.

Many joined textile mills, most of them Padmashalis, a sub-caste known for its weaving-spinning skills. Others toiled to build Mumbai landmarks such as the Metro cinema and the art-deco apartments in south Mumbai. Sayajirao Silam and Narasimha Puppala, Mumbai's leading political figures in the 1950s, were Telugus.