India’s last full census was taken in 2011. The next was due in 2021, and it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A government notification now sets its reference date at “00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027.” For Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the date is October 1, 2026.