The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a budget of ₹11,718 crore for conducting the Census 2027, paving the way for India’s first fully digital and technology-driven population count. Announcing the decision, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the decennial Census remains a crucial national exercise and will now enter a new phase of digital transformation.

The last Census was conducted in 2011, while the 2021 round was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has now scheduled the next enumeration for 2027, with the reference date fixed at 00:00 hours on March 1, 2027.

Two-Phase Census Plan

The Census—officially notified on June 16, 2025—will be conducted in two phases.
Phase I, involving House Listing and Housing Census, will take place between April and September 2026, completed within a 30-day window chosen by the state and UT governments.

Phase II, the Population Enumeration, will be carried out in February 2027. In Ladakh and the snow-bound regions of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the enumeration will be held earlier, in September 2026, due to severe winter conditions.

Census 2027 will be the 16th Census of India and the eighth since Independence, gathering data on population, housing, amenities, education, migration, economic activity and other key socio-economic indicators.

India’s First Fully Digital Census

Vaishnaw said this will be India’s first Census to use mobile applications for data collection on both Android and iOS platforms. A centralised Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) has also been developed to track real-time progress and ensure tighter oversight during field operations.

Technical upgrades include the Houselisting Block Creator web map tool, designed to digitally map enumeration areas, and an option for citizens to participate through self-enumeration. The new Census-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform will offer ministries and departments clean, machine-readable data for policy planning.

Caste Enumeration to Be Included

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has also approved the inclusion of caste enumeration in Census 2027. This data will be recorded electronically during the Population Enumeration phase, marking the first time independent India will gather caste details in a decennial Census.

30 Lakh Functionaries to Be Deployed

The massive exercise will involve nearly 30 lakh field personnel, including enumerators, supervisors, master trainers and officers at state and district levels. Most enumerators—mainly government school teachers—will take up Census duties along with their regular work and will receive an honorarium.

The Census will also generate an estimated 1.02 crore man-days of employment, with over 18,600 technical personnel engaged for around 550 days to support digital operations and data handling. The government says this will help build technical capacity and create future employment opportunities for trained personnel.

Nationwide Awareness Campaign Planned

To ensure maximum participation, the government will launch a wide publicity campaign promoting accurate and timely data submission. The focus will be on last-mile engagement, inclusivity, and supporting field operations across all regions.

With a major digital overhaul and a substantial budgetary push, Census 2027 is expected to be the most technologically advanced population count ever conducted in India.