The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a budget of Rs 11,718.24 crore to conduct the Census of India 2027, which will be the country’s first fully digital census and one of the largest administrative exercises in the world.
According to the government, the census will be carried out in two phases:
Houselisting & Housing Census from April to September 2026,
Population Enumeration in February 2027.
For Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the Population Enumeration will be held earlier in September 2026.
Nearly 30 lakh field functionaries—including enumerators, supervisors, and trainers—will participate in this nationwide operation. For the first time, the census will use mobile applications for data collection, supported by a real-time Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal. Data dissemination will also become more user-friendly, with ministries receiving information through the new Census-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform for faster and machine-readable access.
The 2027 Census will feature several new initiatives, such as:
Digital data collection via Android and iOS apps,
A self-enumeration option for citizens,
A new HLB Creator web map tool for house listing,
Enhanced security features,
A nationwide awareness campaign for inclusive participation.
In a major policy decision, the exercise will also include caste enumeration, following approval by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs in April 2025.
The government expects the project to generate significant employment, engaging 18,600 technical personnel for about 550 days—equivalent to 1.02 crore man-days. The process is also expected to build digital and data-handling skills at district and state levels.
Census 2027 will be the 16th national census and the 8th since Independence, providing granular village- and ward-level data on housing, amenities, demography, language, education, religion, migration, fertility, and economic activity under the legal framework of the Census Act, 1948.