The official language is Hindi which is spoken by about 30% of the population, but English is often used for official or commercial purposes. Additionally, there are more than 100 other regional languages and dialects, including Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Oriya, which are widely used in the north, and Tamil and Telugu, which are common in the south. Other regional languages are Marathi, Kannada, and Malayalam. The northern Muslim population largely speak Urdu.