DPI Brief — April 05, 2026

Today’s DPI Updates (7 Layers)

L1: Identity & Authentication

Census 2027 Kicks Off with Digital Self-Enumeration

India’s Census 2027 has officially begun with a landmark digital self-enumeration facility. Union Home Minister Amit Shah completed the self-enumeration form, marking the start of the first phase (House Listing) running from April to September 2026. Citizens can submit their household details online via the dedicated portal se.census.gov.in during a 15-day window before door-to-door enumeration begins. This marks the first fully digital census in India’s history, potentially intersecting with Aadhaar-based identity verification infrastructure. ¹

L2: Payments & Financial Rails

BHIM App Introduces Biometric Authentication for UPI Payments up to ₹5,000

NPCI BHIM Services Limited (NBSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPCI, has launched biometric authentication for the BHIM Payments App. Users can now approve UPI transactions using their smartphone’s built-in fingerprint or facial recognition technology for payments up to ₹5,000. This enhancement reduces reliance on PIN entry while strengthening security by tying payments closely to the user’s device biometrics. Available for both iOS and Android devices, the feature aims to make digital payments “simple, secure and accessible for every Indian.” ²

L5: Sectoral Infrastructure

Union Budget 2026-27: Health Research Allocation Sees 194% Rise Over 12 Years

The Union Budget has allocated Rs 4,821 crore to Health Research, representing a 194% increase over 12 years. The budget also raised allocations for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by 10% to over Rs 1,06,530 crore. Initiatives span global AYUSH integration, establishment of NIMHANS-2 in North India, and expansion of the allied health workforce. This builds on the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) infrastructure including ABHA health IDs. ³

L7: Security, Privacy & Trust

Global Cybersecurity Vulnerability Alert: F5 BIG-IP RCE Flaw Actively Exploited

The US cybersecurity agency CISA warned that threat actors are actively exploiting a critical-severity F5 BIG-IP vulnerability (CVE-2025-53521, CVSS 9.3). Originally disclosed as a DoS issue, it was reclassified as a remote code execution vulnerability. CISA added the vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, urging federal agencies to patch within three days. While this is a US-focused advisory, it highlights the importance of patch management for organizations using F5 networking equipment globally. ⁴

European Commission Data Breach: Supply Chain Attack via Trivy

CERT-EU attributed a major data breach at the European Commission to cybercriminal group TeamPCP, which exploited a supply chain attack on the open-source security tool Trivy to steal approximately 92 GB of compressed data from the Commission’s AWS environment. This supply chain attack demonstrates evolving threats that may have implications for organizations using similar vulnerability scanning tools globally. ⁵

Sources