Teli is a caste traditionally occupied in the oil pressing and trade in India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

The emergence of "Temple towns" in various parts of south India was instrumental in the improvement of social status of some of the communities that were associated with the supply of essential items for cultural activities.

According to Anand Yang, the Telis worked with beast of burden in the oil pressers and for the purpose of obtaining the desired results from the animals, they were often blinded.

Initially, they had failed to achieve this repositioning in India's official positive discrimination scheme,[14] with opposition coming from other groups who considered the Teli to be too populous and socio-economically influential to justify the change.

[18][19] In 2018 the Bharatiya Janata Party led government in Jharkhand tried to include castes like Teli and Kurmi in the category of Scheduled Tribes, which was welcomed by protests from tribals of Jharkhand under the banner of Jai Adivasi Yuvashakti (JAY) a local organisation which organised "Adivasi Akrosh Maharally", a gathering of all principal tribal groups of the state to protest against the same.

The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Teli as a subgroup within the broader social group of Madheshi Other Caste.