New Delhi,  The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the official schedule for the Census of India 2027, setting the house-to-house population enumeration phase from 25 January to 28 February 2027.

Issued by the Office of the Registrar General of India under the Census Act of 1948, the notification specifies that the countrywide head count will cover most states and Union Territories with 1 March 2027 fixed as the official reference date. However, the initial schedule temporarily excludes poll-bound states and snow-bound areas, including Manipur, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, and the snow-hit regions of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Citizens across participating regions will have access to a digital self-enumeration window through an online portal from 10 January to 24 January 2027, ahead of the traditional door-to-door surveys. A subsequent revisional round is scheduled from 1 March to 5 March 2027 to verify and update recorded demographic data.

The upcoming exercise follows a prolonged delay since the last census was conducted in 2011, with the 2021 decennial census postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials noted that regions facing harsh winter accessibility challenges or upcoming state assembly elections have been exempted to allow administrative machinery to focus smoothly on respective priorities, with alternative dates to be announced later.