English remains to be the preferred language in competitive exams in India

Since the New Education Policy came into effect in India, English is not mandatory as the first preferred language in many important competitive examinations, schools, colleges and even appearing for engineering and medical entrance examinations anymore. Students can apply and take these competitive exams now in English, and Hindi along with 11 other regional languages. However, English is still the first choice preferred by Indian students. The number of students appearing in Hindi and other regional languages for various competitive examinations is significantly less than in English. 

Data from the National Testing Agency (NTA) indicated that in important entrance exams such as National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for pursuing medical education, about 79 percent of applicants chose English as the medium of writing the examination in 2021. Around 13 percent of the students selected Hindi as their preferred language while the number of students opting for other regional languages was nearly 8 percent. Informing about NEET which is one of the most important competitive examinations in India, NTA, the organization which conducts this exam, told that the medium or choice of language depends on the candidate and the NEET question paper will be made available this year in 13 languages also.