How India's bank-holiday system works
Bank holidays in India are declared by the Reserve Bank of India under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, and crucially they are notified state by state. There is no single all-India festival calendar — each state's RBI list reflects its own festivals and observances. So the only fully nationwide closures are the three national days and the weekend pattern below; everything else depends on where your branch is.
This page explains the rules and gives the dates that are the same everywhere. For your state's exact festival holidays, always confirm on the official RBI list (rbi.org.in) — third-party calendars are routinely out of date.
The weekend rule (uniform across India)
- Banks are closed on every Sunday.
- Banks are closed on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month.
- Banks stay open on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays.
This pattern is identical for every bank in the country and sits on top of the festival/state holidays.
National holidays — bank holidays everywhere
| Holiday | Date (fixed every year) |
|---|---|
| Republic Day | 26 January |
| Independence Day | 15 August |
| Gandhi Jayanti | 2 October |
These three are observed as bank holidays across the whole of India. Most other holidays — Holi, Eid, Diwali, regional new-year days, state-formation days and so on — are declared per state, and their Gregorian dates also shift year to year for festivals on the lunar calendar.
Month-wise overview (as per RBI calendar — confirm regionally)
Below is the framework rather than an exhaustive dated list, because the festival entries vary by state and are revised. Use it to plan, then verify the precise dates for your state on the RBI list.
| Month | Nationwide fixed | Typical state/festival holidays |
|---|---|---|
| January | Republic Day (26 Jan) | New Year / regional harvest festivals (Pongal, Makar Sankranti, Lohri) — state-wise |
| February–March | — | Maha Shivaratri, Holi — dates shift; state-wise |
| April | — | Ambedkar Jayanti, regional new-year days, Good Friday, Ram Navami — state-wise |
| May–July | — | Eid, Buddha Purnima, regional days — dates shift; state-wise |
| August | Independence Day (15 Aug) | Janmashtami, Raksha Bandhan, regional days — state-wise |
| September–October | Gandhi Jayanti (2 Oct) | Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, Diwali — dates shift; state-wise |
| November–December | — | Guru Nanak Jayanti, Christmas (25 Dec), regional days — state-wise |
This is a planning framework, not the official list. The RBI publishes the binding, state-wise 2026 holiday list — confirm your state's exact dates there before assuming a branch is closed.
What still works on a bank holiday
A bank holiday closes the branch counter, not your money. UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, ATMs, cards and net banking all run on holidays — NEFT and RTGS settle 24×7 year-round. Only branch services (counter cash, cheque clearing, lockers, demand drafts) pause and resume the next business day. So plan cheque deposits and physical-cash needs around the closures, but routine transfers are unaffected.
Planning around the calendar
If you are timing a fixed deposit or an investment around month-end, remember that the value date follows business days — try the FD calculator to see how a day or two changes maturity. Investors should also note the separate stock market holidays 2026, when NSE and BSE are closed even if banks are open. For long-term savings options, see post office schemes.