List of Useful Abbreviations Which You Need To Know

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or lengthy phrases. You’ll find them in almost every discipline and area of life, from commonly used abbreviations in names or titles.

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The US is itself a well-established abbreviation, as are the shortened forms of United States. As you will see in the following list of commonly used abbreviations they exist in all areas of life from medicine to military and geography to baking.

S.No.	Name	Description
1	AAF	Auxiliary Air Force
2	AIEEE	All India Engineering Entrance Examination
3	AAOU	Asian Association of Open Universities
4	ABC	Audit Bureau of Circulation
5	ABM	Anti-Ballistic Missile
6	AC	Alternating Current; Air Conditioner
7	A/C	Account
8	ACD	Asian Co-operation Dialogue
9	ACF	Asian Cricket Foundation
10	ACP	Assistant Commissioner of Police
11	AFTA	ASEAN Free Trade Area
12	AI	Air India
13	AD	Anno Domini (After Christ)
14	AIDS	Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
15	ADB	Asian Development Bank
16	AEC	Atomic Energy Commission
17	AHQ	Air Head Quarters; Army Head Quarters
18	AICC	All India Congress Committee
19	AIIMS	All India Institute of Medical Science
20	AINEF	All India Newspaper Employees’ Federation
21	ANC	African National Council
22	APEC	Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation
23	ARC	Administrative Reforms Commission; Asset Reconstruction Corporation of India
24	ASEAN	Association of South-East Asian nations
25	ATS	Anti Tetanus Serum
26	AU	African Union
27	BA	Bachelor of Arts/ British Academy
28	BARC	Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
29	BCCI	Board of Control of Cricket in India / Bank of Credit and Commerce International
30	BCG	Bacillus Calmette Guerin (Anti-T.B.Vaccine)
31	BIMSTEC	Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Co-operation
32	BOAC	British Overseas Airways Corporation
33	BSES	Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply
34	BSNL	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
35	CA	Chartered Account
36	CAD	Computer Aided Design
37	CCI	Cricket Club of India
38	CHOGM	Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
39	CIA	Central Intelligence Agency (U.S.A)
40	CICA	Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia
41	CITES	Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
42	CNG	Compressed Natural Gas
43	COSC	Chiefs of Staff Committee
44	COFEPOSA	Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act
45	CPI	Corruption Perception Index
46	CRISIL	Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd.
47	CSIR	Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
48	CSCAP	Council for Security Co-operation in Asia Pacific
49	DA	Dearness Allowance; Daily Allowance
50	DAE	Department of Atomic Energy
51	DC	Direct Current; Deputy Commissioner
52	DDT	Dichloro-diphenyl Trichloro-ethane
53	DGAD	Directorate-General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties
54	DISTCOMS	Distributing Companies
55	D.Litt.	Doctor of Literature
56	DVC	Damodar Valley Corporation
57	e.g.	exempli gratia (For Example)
58	ESMA	Essential Services Maintenance Act
59	ESCAP	Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (This is the new name of ECAFE)
60	EVM	Electronic Voting Machine
61	E&OE	Errors and Omissions of Expected
62	FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization
63	FCI	Food Corporation of India
64	FDI	Foreign Direct Investment
65	FEMA	Foreign Exchange of India Management Act
66	FICA	Federation of International Cricketers Association
67	GATT	General Agreement on Tarrifs and Trade
68	GDP	Gross Domestic Product
69	GLOBE	Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment
70	GNP	Gross National Product
71	GOPIO	Global Organization of People of Indian Origin
72	GPF	General Provident Fund
73	GSP	Generalized System of Preferences
74	HAL	Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
75	HISA	Hero Indian Sports Academy
76	HMT	Hindustan Machine Tools
77	HP	Horse Power
78	HUDCO	Housing and Urban Development Corporation
79	IAAI	International Airport Authority of India
80	IAAF	International Amateur Athletic Federation
81	IAF	Indian Air Force
82	ICRC	International Committee of the Red Cross
83	IDBI	Industrial Development Bank of India
84	IDPL	Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited
85	IFWJ	Indian Federation of Working Journalists
86	IGNCA	Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts
87	INSDOC	Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre
88	INTUC	Indian National Trade Union Congress
89	ICAR	Indian Council of Agricultural Research
90	IDA	International Development Association
91	ILO	International Labour Organization
92	IMF	International Monetary Fund
93	INA	Indian National Army
94	INDU	Indian National Defence University
95	INS	Indian Newspaper Society, Indian Naval Ship
96	INTACH	Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage
97	IRBI	Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India
98	ISB	Indian School of Business
99	ISI	Inter Services Intelligence (Pakistan)
100	IST	Indian Standards Time
101	ISRO	Indian Space Research Organization
102	ITES	Information Technology Enabled Services
103	JEE	Joint Entrance Examination
104	JVP	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
105	JNU	Jawaharlal Nehru University
106	JPC	Joint Parliamentary Committee
107	JRY	Jawahar Rozgar Yojana
108	JAL	Japan Air Lines
109	J&K	Jammu & Kashmir
110	KW	Kilowat
111	KG	Kindergarten (German word, meaning children’s garden, school for young children, usually between the ages of four and six)
112	KVK	Krishi Vigyan Kendra
113	LLB	Bachelor of Laws
114	LPG	Liquefied Petroleum Gas
115	LAC	Line of Actual Control
116	LCA	Light Combat Aircraft
117	LDC	Least Developed Countries; Lower Division Clerk
118	LIC	Life Insurance Corporation
119	LSD	Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (a hallucinogenic drug)
120	LTC	Leave Travel Concession
121	LTTE	Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
122	MA	Master of Arts
123	MAT	Minimum Alternate Tax
124	MBA	Master of Business Administration
125	MBT	Main Battle Tank
126	MD	Doctor of Medicine; Managing Director
127	MFN	Most Favoured Nation
128	MLA	Member of Legislative Assembly
129	MLC	Member of Legislative Council
130	MAML	Mumbai Academy of Moving Images
131	MBBS	Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
132	MCC	Marylebone Cricket Club
133	MCOCA	Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act
134	MDMK	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
135	MFALA	Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Agency
136	MMTC	Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation
137	MO	Money Order
138	MODVAT	Modified Value Added Tax
139	MP	Member of Parliament; Military Police
140	MRTS	Mass Rapid Transit System
141	MRVC	Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation
142	MTBE	Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether
143	MTNL	Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
144	MPLADS	Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme
145	MWS	Million Wells Scheme
146	NAAC	National Assessment and Accreditation Council
147	NACO	National Aids Control Organization
148	NATO	North Atlantic Treaty Organization
149	NAD	Nothing Abnormal Detected
150	NAFED	National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation
151	NAM	Non-Aligned Movement
152	NB	Nota Bene (Note well)
153	NBT	National Book Trust
154	NBA	Narmada Bachao Andolan
155	NBCC	National Building Construction Corporation
156	NCC	National Cadet Corps
157	NCA	National Cricket Academy
158	NCC	National Commission on Cattle; National Cadet Corps
159	NCDRC	National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
160	NCSC	National Commission for Scheduled Castes
161	NCERT	National Council of Educational Research and Training
162	NCR	National Capital Region
163	NDA	National Democratic Alliance; National Defence Academy
164	NDC	National Development Council
165	NIN	National Institute of Nutrition
166	NMD	National Missile Defence
167	NPT	Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
168	NRI	Non-Resident India
169	NSA	National Security Act
170	NSC	National Savings Certificate
171	NTPC	National Thermal Power Corporation
172	OANA	Organization of Asian News Agencies
173	OBC	Other Backward Classes
174	OIC	Organization of Islamic Countries
175	OIGS	On Indian Government Service
176	OIL	Oil India Limited
177	ONGC	Oil and Natural Gas Commission
178	OPEC	Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
179	OPD	Out Patient’s Department
180	PA	Personal Assistant
181	PBX	Private Branch Exchange
182	PC	Privy Council; Per Cent; Post Card; Personal Computer
183	PIN	Postal Index Number
184	PIN	Postal Index Number
185	PLO	Palestine Liberation Organization
186	PLR	Prime Lending Rates
187	POTA	Prevention of Terrorism Act
188	PO	Post Office; Postal Order
189	PRI	Panchayati Raj Institution
190	PRO	Public Relation Officer
191	PSC	Public Service Commission
192	P&T	Post and Telegraph
193	PTA	Parent Teacher Association; Pilotless Target Aircraft
194	PTI	Press Trust of India; Physical Training Instructor
195	PTO	Please Turn Over
196	PWD	Public Works Department
197	PWG	Peoples War Group
199	RAC	Reservation Against Cancellation
200	RAF	Rapid Action Force
201	RAW	Research and Analysis Wing
202	RBI	Reserve Bank of India
203	REC	Rural Electrification Corporation
204	RIMC	Rashtriya Indian Military College
205	RMS	Railway Mail Service
206	RNI	Registrar of Newspapers for India
207	RPF	Railway Protection Force
208	RPM	Revolutions Per Minute
209	RRB	Railway Recruitment Board
210	RSVP	Respondez Sil vous Plait (Reply if you please)
211	SAARC	South Indian Association for Regional Cooperation
212	SAI	Sports Authority of India
213	SAIL	Steel Authority of India Limited
214	SAPTA	South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement
215	SASEC	South Asian Sub-regional Economic Co-operation
216	SC	Scheduled Caste; Supreme Court
217	SCI	Shipping Corporation of India
218	SEARCH	Society for Environmental Awareness, Rehabilitation for Child and Handicapped
219	SGRY	Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana
220	SHO	Station House Officer
221	SIMI	Students Islamic Movement of India
222	SRSF	Special Railway Safety Fund
223	SSB	Service Selection Board
224	SSC	Staff Selection Commission
225	STAR	Satellite Television Asian Region
226	STARS	Satellite Tracking and Ranging Station
227	START	Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
228	STC	State Trading Corporation
229	STD	Subscriber Trunk Dialling
230	STPI	Subscriber Technology Parks of India
231	SWAPO	South West Africa People’s Organization
232	TA	Traveling Allowance
233	TADA	Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention Act)
234	TB	Tuberculosis; Torpedo Boat
235	TDS	Tax Deduction at Source
236	TELEX	Teleprinter Exchange
237	TISCO	Tata Iron and Steel Company
238	TELCO	Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company
239	TERLS	Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station
240	TOEFL	Test of English as Foreign Language
241	TRIPS	Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights
242	TTE	Traveling Ticket Examiner
243	UGC	University Grants Commission
244	ULSD	Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel
245	ULSP	Ultra Low Sulphur Petrol
246	UNADF	United National Agricultural Development Fund
247	UNO	United National Organization
248	UNESCO	United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
249	UNEP	United Nations Environment Programme
250	UNFPA	United Nations Fund for Population Activities
251	UNICEF	United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
252	UNIDO	United Nations Industrial Development Organization
253	UNMISET	United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor
254	UPTN	Universal Personal Telephone Number
255	VA	Volt Ampere; Value Added
256	VAA	Virgin Atlantic Airlines
257	VAMBAY	Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojna
258	VC	Vice-Chancellor
259	VCR	Video Cassette Recorder
260	VDIS	Voluntary Disclosure Income Scheme
261	VHF	Very High Frequency
262	VOIP	Voice Over Internet Protocol
263	VIP	Very Important Person
264	VPL	Value Payable Letter
265	VPP	Value Payable Post
266	VSSC	Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
267	VSAT	Very Small Aperture Terminal
268	VSEZs	Virtual Special Economic Zones
269	WCAR	World Conference Against Racism
270	WCHR	World Conference on Human Rights
271	WHO	World Health Organization
272	WMO	World Meteorological Organizations
273	WIPO	World Intellectual Property Organization
274	WLL	Wireless in a Local Loop
275	WTO	World Tourism Organization; World Trade Organization
276	WWF	World Wildlife Fund; World Wrestling Federation
278	YMCA	Young Men’s Christian Association
279	YWCA	Young Women’s Christian Association
280	ZS	Zoological Society
281	ZBB	Zero Based Budgeting
282	ZSI	Zoological Survey of India
283	ZRO	Zonal Recruiting Office