CNIC REGIONAL CODE · SINDH

421 Karachi South

CNIC numbers beginning 421 were registered in Karachi South District, Karachi Division, Sindh. See the tehsils it covers, its documented local-zone codes, and what each digit of the prefix stands for.

DOCUMENTED ANCHOR CODE

421
PROVINCE
Sindh
DIVISION
Karachi DivisionDigit 2 of the prefix — 2
DISTRICT
Karachi South District
TEHSILS
2Saddar · Lyari

What 421 tells you

A Pakistani CNIC is thirteen digits long, and the first five of them are not random. They are a location record, written at the moment the card was registered. A card whose number opens with 421 was registered in Karachi South District, Sindh, in Karachi Division.

Reading it left to right: 4 is the province digit and is definitive — 4 always means Sindh. 2 selects the division inside that province, here Karachi Division. 1 selects the district inside that division, which gives us Karachi South. The two digits that follow — positions four and five — narrow it further to a local registration zone inside the district.

WHAT IT DOES NOT TELL YOUThe prefix is a registration record, not an address. It does not prove where someone lives now, it is not a domicile certificate, and it says nothing about ethnicity or nationality beyond Pakistani citizenship. People who move keep the prefix they were first registered under.

TEHSILS OF KARACHI SOUTH

Karachi South District is divided into 2 administrative tehsils. NADRA’s internal registration zones do not map one-to-one onto tehsil boundaries, so treat this as the administrative picture rather than a decoder for digits four and five.

ADMINISTRATIVE TEHSILS · KARACHI SOUTH DISTRICT
#TehsilDistrictProvince
1SaddarKarachi SouthSindh
2LyariKarachi SouthSindh

DOCUMENTED LOCAL ZONES UNDER 421

These are the five-digit codes this register can name for Karachi South District. Codes not listed here still exist — NADRA has simply never published the full zone table.

42101Karachi South — Saddar / Lyari beltDocumented anchor

OTHER DISTRICTS IN KARACHI DIVISION

422Karachi EastDocumented anchor423Karachi WestDocumented anchor424Karachi CentralDerived code425Karachi MalirDerived code426KorangiDerived code427KeamariDerived code

COMMON QUESTIONS

Which district is CNIC code 421?

421 belongs to Karachi South District in Sindh, within Karachi Division.

Digit 1 (4) is the province, digit 2 (2) the division, and digit 3 (1) the district within that division.

Does a 421 CNIC mean the holder lives in Karachi South?

No. The regional prefix records where the card was registered with NADRA, not where the holder lives now. People who move, or who register at a family address, keep the original prefix.

It is also not proof of domicile. Domicile is a separate certificate issued by the district administration.

Which tehsils fall under Karachi South District?

Karachi South District covers 2 administrative tehsils: Saddar, Lyari.

Tehsil boundaries and NADRA's internal registration zones are not the same thing, so the last two digits of a CNIC do not map one-to-one onto this list.

What comes after 421 in a full CNIC?

A complete CNIC is thirteen digits: the five-digit regional prefix, then a seven-digit family/serial number, then a single check digit that also encodes gender (odd for male, even for female).

For Karachi South, this register documents 1 local-zone code: 42101.

How reliable is the code 421?

421 is a documented anchor code — it appears consistently in public records and published examples, so the district mapping is solid.

NADRA has never released a complete district-to-prefix table, which is why this register marks every entry as either a documented anchor or a derived code.

KEEP LOOKING

Look up another codeAll Sindh codesComplete code listWhat the 13 digits mean

Sources. Administrative data adapted from Wikipedia (CNIC, Administrative units of Pakistan, Districts of Pakistan) under CC BY-SA 4.0, with changes; prefix mapping cross-checked against public administrative and community-compiled lists. Reviewed 2026-09-02. Full sources, accuracy and ethics. Unofficial reference — not affiliated with NADRA, and not proof of identity or domicile.