Home Ministry seeks ₹14,619 crore for Digital Census 2027: Report

The Registrar General of India (RGI), under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has requested a budget of ₹14,618.95 crore for the 2027 Census, marking the first fully digital enumeration in the country's history, according to a media report.

This request has been submitted to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) for approval, after which it will be presented to the Union Cabinet for final sanction, The Indian Express has reported.

The Census will be conducted in two phases: houselisting from April to September 2026, followed by population enumeration beginning in February 2027.

However, in regions such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the enumeration will commence in September 2026. During the houselisting phase, data on housing conditions, household amenities, and assets will be collected.

This Census will be the first to employ digital methods extensively. Data collection will be facilitated through dedicated mobile applications, and the public will have the option to self-enumerate. Additionally, caste data will be captured electronically, as per the decision made by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) on April 30.

To oversee the process, the RGI is developing a website called the Census Monitoring & Management System (CMMS), which will allow for real-time monitoring and management of the entire exercise.

Approximately 35 lakh enumerators and supervisors will be deployed, representing a 30% increase from the 27 lakh functionaries used during the 2011 Census.

The 2027 Census is the 16th decennial Census and the eighth since India's independence. The projected population for 2027 is 1.436 billion, with an estimated cost of ₹101.8 per person.