What he does
The arithmetic is the headline and the scale of it is worth stating precisely. Twenty crore is 200 million: eight- and nine-digit numbers, added, subtracted and multiplied in his head, in seconds, and reported as faster than a person entering the same figures into a calculator.
Asked how, he offers no method. “Numbers are fun,” he told The Better India. “The answers just come to me naturally.” That is a common answer from calculating prodigies and an unsatisfying one, because it describes an experience rather than a technique. Nothing in the reporting used here establishes whether he uses a learned system, such as the shortcut methods taught in Indian mental-maths schools, or something he arrived at himself.
How it was noticed
Teachers began to notice in Class IV, when the gap between what he could do and what his classmates could do stopped being explicable by effort. By the time of the report he was in Class VIII at Jila Singh Public School, and the school had done two things that carry real weight in a village of that size.
It waived his fees and gave him free books. And it appointed a special mathematics teacher to take him through Class XII material, four years ahead of his year group. For a family supported by a construction labourer's wages, the fee waiver is the difference between a talent that develops and one that does not.
What his family says
Narender Rathi's ambition for his son, as he put it to The Better India, is simple and outward-looking: “I just want my kid to take the name of the nation forward.” It is a father's line about the country rather than about the household, and it is the only quotation from the family in this material.
Chirag's own ambition, as reported, is to become a scientist and make his country proud. He also mentioned wanting to invite political leaders to his village, a remark that says something about what recognition means in Nakud Tripudi: not a prize, but attention paid to a place that rarely receives any.
The comparison to Shakuntala Devi
Locally he has been called the district's wonder kid and its maths wiz, and the comparison reporters reached for was Shakuntala Devi, the Indian calculator whose name is the standard reference point for this kind of ability in India.
That comparison should be read as the press shorthand it is. Devi built an international career over decades on public demonstrations and books; what is documented about Chirag Rathi is a single visit by a news website to a village school in January 2018, with a companion report in the Times of India. No competition result, no verified timing under test conditions, and no independent assessment appears anywhere in this material.
Vingt questions, huit minutes au chronomètre et un centile mesuré face à tous ceux qui l’ont passé. Sans inscription.
Passer le test de QI →What is documented, and what is not
Firm: his age at the time, 12; his village, Nakud Tripudi in Saharanpur district; his father's name and occupation; his school, Jila Singh Public School; the fee waiver, the free books and the specially appointed maths teacher taking him through Class XII material; his ability to handle numbers up to 20 crore in seconds; and his stated ambition to be a scientist.
Not documented: his date of birth, which is why the birth year here is derived from his age in January 2018. Also absent are any awards, any competition entries, any formally verified timings, and any account of what has happened to him since. The Better India's article is from January 2018 and nothing later appears in this material. For a 12-year-old in a village school, that silence is the most likely outcome and the most important thing to say honestly.
Watch: Chirag Rathi on camera
| Personne | Pays | Étape | Âge / Donnée |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chirag Rathi | Inde | Fils d'un ouvrier du bâtiment à Saharanpur, effectuant des calculs à huit chiffres | 13 ans |
| Stiaan Scheepers | Afrique du Sud | Médailles aux Championnats du monde juniors de calcul mental | — |
| Mishti Dharmesh Shah | Inde | Coupe du monde de calcul mental 2024 | — |
| Hua Wei Chan | Canada | Deuxième place à la Coupe du monde de calcul mental 2012 | — |
| Naofumi Ogasawara | Japon | Vainqueur de la Coupe du monde de calcul mental 2012 | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Aged 12 and in the eighth standard in January 2018, from Nakud Tripudi, Saharanpur district
- Father Narender Rathi, a construction labourer supporting a family of four
- Jila Singh Public School waived his fees, gave free books and appointed a special maths teacher for Class XII material
- Reported to handle numbers up to 20 crore in seconds, faster than a calculator user
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is inferred
- No verified timings, competition results or independent assessment appear in these sources
- Whether he uses a learned mental-arithmetic system is not established
- Nothing documents what has happened to him since January 2018
Questions people ask about Chirag Rathi
How old is Chirag Rathi?
He was 12 in January 2018. No source used here gives his date of birth, so the birth year on this page is approximate.
What can Chirag Rathi do?
Add, subtract and multiply numbers up to 20 crore, that is 200 million, in seconds, reported as faster than a person using a calculator.
Where is he from?
Nakud Tripudi village in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh.
What did his school do for him?
Jila Singh Public School waived his fees, gave him free books and appointed a special mathematics teacher to take him through Class XII mathematics.
What does he want to be?
A scientist, according to The Better India, so that he can make his country proud.
Has he won any competitions?
No awards or competition results appear in the sources used here.
Where is Chirag Rathi now?
Not documented. The reporting used here dates from January 2018 and nothing later appears in this material.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Chirag’s story?
How large are the numbers Chirag Rathi is reported to handle?
What is his father's work?
What did his school do after noticing his ability?
Sources
- What Is 23 X 34432? This 12-Year-Old U.P Labourer's Son Can Do It in Seconds! — The Better India, 2018-01-20
- A calculating genius: labourer's son stuns all — Times of India
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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