Calcutta’s Parsi population drops to 347, lowest since 1980s as numbers shrink across cities
Telegraph | 17 April 2026
The number of Parsis in Calcutta has dwindled to 347 — the lowest since the 1980s — mirroring a trend across the country.
The Parsis had settled in Calcutta in the mid-18th century and there were about 1,600 Parsis in the early 1980s.
According to an internal report of the National Minorities Commission, around 30-40 per cent of the Parsi population in Calcutta are single, while another 35-40 per cent are aged above 60. Around 30-35 per cent Parsis have opted for partners from other communities.
“The community is staring at a huge crisis of numbers and it is the sad reality across the country. The death rate in the community is three times the birth rate and their extinction is increasingly becoming a reality with every passing year,” a member of the commission told The Telegraph, adding there are 200 more deaths than births each year.
To make matters worse, if a Parsi girl weds outside the community, her child is not included in the family fold. On the contrary, if a Parsi boy marries a non-Parsi girl, their child is accepted as a Parsi.
According to the 2011 census, India had 57,264 Parsis, a fall from 114,000 in 1941.
Parsis live mostly in Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta.
The Centre had in 2013-2014 launched the Jiyo Parsi scheme for sponsored fertility treatment among Parsis to arrest their dwindling numbers. Under the scheme, the government pays for the treatment of childless married couples if both husband and wife are Parsis and have an annual family income up to ₹30 lakh.
The scheme flipped the script on family planning, a significant part of the government’s policy for decades.
“Initially, there was a lot of excitement over the scheme. A large number of Parsi couples enrolled for the scheme and several babies were born. But over the past few years, it has faltered and there are not many takers now,” said a minority affairs ministry official, adding that most of the babies were born in Mumbai, which has the largest concentration of Parsis.
In Calcutta, too, the scheme had evoked a lukewarm response because the target segment is minuscule in the city.
“The number of Parsis in the reproductive age group in Calcutta is way too low. That is why there are too few takers,” said Noomi Mehta, senior trustee of the Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund (CZCRCF), which manages the welfare, properties and religious activities of the city’s waning Parsi community.
Another member of the community alleged the scheme was biased against women. “A Parsi man marrying a non-Parsi can avail himself of the scheme. But a Parsi woman marrying a non-Parsi cannot,” she said.
India’s Parsi community traces its origin to Zoroastrian refugees who landed on the coast of Gujarat around the 8th century. The tiny community has produced trailblazing figures like industrialist J.R.D. Tata, physicist Homi J. Bhabha, the founder of the Atomic Energy Commission, and Zubin Mehta, the Western classical music conductor.
Expressing concern about the falling numbers, Shernaz Cama, director of the Delhi-based Parzor Foundation, an NGO that works to preserve the Zoroastrian heritage of Parsis, said the community was facing an existential crisis.
“We are still hopeful. The community and the government need to take corrective measures to stem the dwindling numbers. Next month, we are holding a seminar in Mumbai on issues related to Parsis, where the minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju will be present,” she said.
The actual number of Parsis presently living in the country will be known after the long-delayed census that started early this month, Cama said.
Last year, the government informed Parliament that the population of Parsis, a notified minority community, had declined from 1,14,000 in 1941 to 57,264 in 2011.
During the last five years (2020-21 to 2024-25), an expenditure of ₹17.64 crore was incurred under the Jiyo Parsi scheme and 232 babies were born.
A survey conducted by the minority affairs ministry earlier had revealed that migration, late marriages or none at all, and declining fertility were the main reasons behind the fall in Parsis’ numbers. According to the survey, the average number of births per year in the community has never crossed 200 since 2001, when 223 Parsi babies were born.
A member of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet said community leaders were being persuaded to change the long-running tradition and include the child of a Parsi woman into the family fold even if she marries outside the community.
Contrary to popular perceptions, not all Parsis are affluent. According to the ministry’s survey, wealthy Parsis were few and mostly restricted to Mumbai.