Census 2027: Cabinet clears ₹11,718 crore allocation - Phases, impact and other details

THE Union Cabinet on Friday cleared the allocation of ₹11,718.24 crore for conducting Census of India 2027. The announcement was made by Union Cabinet Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The Census of India would be conducted in two phases:

– Houselisting and Housing Census – April to September, 2026, and

– Population Enumeration (PE) – February 2027.

For the Union Territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound, non-synchronous regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Population Enumeration would be carried out in September 2026 — the government said in its statement issued on Friday, December 12.

What's different about Census 2027?

The 2027 Census would be the first Census in India that would be carried out by digital means. According to an official release, data for the Census will be collected using mobile applications that will be available for both Android and iOS versions.

    #CabinetDecisions ||

    Union Cabinet approved Budget of Rs. 11,718 crore for #Census2027: I&B Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw

    Census 2027 will be the first ever digital census. The digital design of the census has been made keeping in mind data protection.

    It will be conducted in… pic.twitter.com/O2EQm85WtA
    — All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) December 12, 2025

Two platforms – a Census Management & Monitoring System (CMMS) portal and a Houselisting Block (HLB) Creator web map application has been developed Census 2027. The CMMS would be used for managing and monitoring the entire Census process on a real time basis, while the HLB Creator web map application would be used by the Charge Officers.

Briefing about the cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Census 2027 will be the sixteenth in the series and the eighth since Independence.

Census 2027 - Key points to know

Briefing about the cabinet decisions, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Census 2027 will be the sixteenth in the series and the eighth since Independence. An official release said that the use of a mobile app for data collection and the Central portal for monitoring purposes will ensure better quality data.

Here's a glimpse at the key points of Census 2027:

– About 30 lakh field functionaries, including enumerators, supervisors, master trainers, charge officers and principal/ district census officers, will be deployed for data collection, monitoring and supervision of Census operations.

– Use of a mobile app for data collection and the Central portal for monitoring purposes will ensure better quality data, said the government.

– Data dissemination will be much better and in a user-friendly way so that all the queries on required parameters for policy making will be made available on the click of a button.

– Census-as-a-service (CaaS) will deliver data to ministries in a clean, machine-readable and actionable format.