Acronyms and Abbreviations Common in India
Doing Business in India Guide > Acronyms and Abbreviations Common in India
• AAI - Airport Authority of India
• ABCDEFGHIJ - American Born Confused Desi Emigrated From Gujarat, House In Jersey
• AGP - Asom Gana Parishad, regional party in Assam
• AI - Air India, a PSU
• AIADMK - All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• AIR - All India Radio, state owned radio stations
• AP - Andhra Pradesh; Arunachal Pradesh
• ASLV - Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
• BCCI - Board of Cricket Control in India
• BG - Broad Gauge (trains or tracks (5ft. 6in. - the broadest in the world)
• BJP - Bharatiya Janata Party, national political party, rightwing, pro-Hindu
• BSP - Bahujan Samaj Party, political party, promotes lower caste interests
• CBI - Central Bureau of Investigation (like American FBI)
• CBSE - Central Board of Secondary Education
• Chi. Chiranjeevi, the title/salutation for a bridegroom
• CII - Confederation fo Indian Industry
• CM - Chief Minister (like American Governor
• CPI - Communist Party of India (historically aligned to Russian party)
• CPI (M) - Communist Party of India (Marxist), historically aligned to Chinese party
• CPI (ML) - Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
• CPWD - Central Public Works Department; PWD of the GOI
• DA - Dearness Allowance, paid to compensate for inflation
• DD – Doordarshan, state-owned television channel
• DMK - Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• DoT - Department of Telecommunications
• DRDO - Defence Research and Development Organisation
• EMU - Electric Multiple Unit
• FC - Forward Caste
• FM - Finance Minister
• GoI - Government of India
• GSLV - Geostationary Launch Vehicle
• HC - High Court (the highest provincial court, but lower than the federal Supreme Court)
• HP - Himachal Pradesh
• IAF - Indian Air Force
• IGNOU - Indira Gandhi National Open University
• IIM - Indian Institute of Management
• IIT - Indian Institute of Technology
• IMD - India Meteorological Department
• INSAT - Indian National Satellite
• IPKF - Indian Peace Keeping Force, postioned in a foreign country such as Sri Lanka
• IRS - Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
• ISI - Formerly Indian Standards Institute, renamed Bureau of Indian Standards,
• ISRO - Indian Space Research Organisation
• LoC - Line of Control (between Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and Indian-controlled state of Jammu & Kashmir, formerly called the Cease-Fire Line
• LS - Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament)
• LTTE - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
• m-cap - (stock) market capitalisation
• MDMK - Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• MEA - Ministry of External Affairs
• MG - Meter Gauge (trains or tracks), being phased out
• MP - Madhya Pradesh
• NDA - National Democratic Alliance
• NIC : National Informatics Centre
• NRI - Non-Resident Indian
• NSC - National Savings Certificate
• OBC - Other Backward Classes
• ONGC - Oil and Natural Gas Commission
• PAN - Permanent Account Number (like US Taxpayer Identification Number)
• PF - Provident Fund (vaguely similar to US Social Security, payable as a lump-sum)
• PIGS - Poor Indian Graduate Student
• PIL - Public Interest Litigation (brought before a High Court, by a friend of the court)
• PMK - Pattali Munnetra Kazhagam
• PQWL - Pooled Quota Wait List, Indian Railways Acronym
• PSLV - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
• PSU - Public Sector Unit (a company whose stock is owned largely by the government)
• PTI - Press Trust of India, a news agency
• PWD - Public Works Department (state civil engineering group handling roads, bridges)
• RAC - Reservation Against Cancellation, Indian Railways Acronym
• RAW - Research & Analysis Wing (similar to US CIA)
• REGRET/WL1 - No More Booking Permitted, Indian Railways Acronym
• RLWL- Remote Location Wait List, Indian Railways Acronym
• RNRI : Returned Non Resident Indian, An NRI who has moved to his home country
• RS - Rajya Sabha, upper house of Indian Parliament
• RSS - Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
• SAARC - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (seven countries of South Asia)
• SAIL - Steel Authority of India, a public sector undertaking (PSU)
• SC - Supreme Court, the highest court in the country (higher than High Courts)
• SC/ST - Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Harijans or Dalits)
• SEBI - Securities Exchange Board of India
• Sensex - Sensitive Index (of the Bombay Stock Exchange), like Dow Jones average
• SP - Samajwadi Party; Samata Party
• ST - Scheduled Tribes
• TN - Tamil Nadu
• ULFA - United Liberation Front of Asom
• UP - Uttar Pradesh
• VHP - Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu party, right of BJP
• WB - West Bengal
