Census 2027: Centre Floats Tender, Seeks Bids from Printers in Delhi-NCR

A month after officially announcing the date for India’s 16th Census, the Central Government has issued a tender seeking to empanel reputed offset printers from the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). The tender, floated by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (ORGI), is for printing, binding, and packaging various Census-related materials—such as publications, forms, schedules, and instruction manuals—using the offset printing process over a period of two years.

The tender invites offset printers located in Delhi/NCR under a two-bid system and has been issued on behalf of the President of India by the ORGI, under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The decision to empanel printers was made with approval from the competent authority. The scope of work for the selected printers will include desktop publishing (DTP) composition, scanning, plate making, offset printing (including paper supply), binding, and packaging. Materials will be printed in Hindi, English, and various regional languages.

The tender emphasizes that payment will be made only after the successful and timely completion of the assigned tasks, with final materials meeting ORGI’s satisfaction. All digital and physical copies (such as proofs, negatives, positives, PDFs, and open files) used during the printing process will be considered the property of ORGI and must be returned along with the completed print materials.

The government had earlier set March 1, 2027, as the reference date for the Census across most parts of India, and October 1, 2026, for remote and snow-bound areas like Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. This Census will mark a historic development, as it includes India’s first nationwide caste-based enumeration since 1931 and will be the first-ever digital Census.

The Indian Census, held every ten years, is regarded as the most credible and comprehensive source of demographic and socio-economic data in the country. It provides primary information at the village, town, and ward levels on diverse topics like population characteristics, economic activity, literacy and education, housing conditions, household amenities, urbanization, birth and death rates, languages spoken, religious affiliations, migration patterns, disability, and the representation of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

This data is vital for policy-making, development planning, and research. It is widely used by Central and State Governments, international organizations, business entities, researchers, and academics. The 2027 Census will be the 16th in India’s history, with the first one held in 1872.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Registrar General and Census Commissioner confirmed that the Census will be conducted in two phases. The first phase, Houselisting and Housing Census, will begin in April 2026. The second phase will cover Population Enumeration. Data collection will be conducted using a mobile application available on both Android and iOS platforms. Enumerators and supervisors will use their own smartphones or mobile devices to collect data in English, Hindi, and regional languages.

The introduction of digital technology aims to modernize the data collection process, increase efficiency, and ensure quicker processing of Census data while ensuring greater transparency and accountability in operations.