Holidays in India 2026

Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: September 8, 2026

The 2026 India holiday table below lists 15 dates, each one a day this calculator treats as closed. 12 fall on a weekday and 3 land on a weekend, leaving 249 working days across the year on the national-only count.

2026 Central Government holidays calendar

Date	Day	Holiday	Notes
Jan 26	Monday	Republic Day	Republic Day on Monday January 26 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.
Mar 21	Saturday (weekend)	Eid ul-Fitr	Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday March 21 falls in the Saturday-Sunday weekend, so this entry takes no working day out of the count.
Mar 31	Tuesday	Mahavir Jayanti	Mahavir Jayanti on Tuesday March 31 leaves Monday March 30 as a bridge day, the only working day between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Apr 3	Friday	Good Friday	Good Friday on Friday April 3 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.
Apr 14	Tuesday	Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti	Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti on Tuesday April 14 leaves Monday April 13 as a bridge day, the only working day between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend.
May 1	Friday	Buddha Purnima	Buddha Purnima on Friday May 1 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.
May 28	Thursday	Eid ul-Adha	Eid ul-Adha on Thursday May 28 leaves Friday May 29 as a bridge day, the only working day between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Jun 26	Friday	Muharram	Muharram on Friday June 26 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.
Aug 15	Saturday (weekend)	Independence Day	Independence Day on Saturday August 15 falls in the Saturday-Sunday weekend, so this entry takes no working day out of the count.
Aug 26	Wednesday	Milad-un-Nabi	Milad-un-Nabi on Wednesday August 26 falls mid-week, with at least two working days between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend on each side.
Oct 2	Friday	Gandhi Jayanti	Gandhi Jayanti on Friday October 2 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.
Oct 20	Tuesday	Dussehra	Dussehra on Tuesday October 20 leaves Monday October 19 as a bridge day, the only working day between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Nov 8	Sunday (weekend)	Diwali	Diwali on Sunday November 8 falls in the Saturday-Sunday weekend, so this entry takes no working day out of the count.
Nov 24	Tuesday	Guru Nanak Jayanti	Guru Nanak Jayanti on Tuesday November 24 leaves Monday November 23 as a bridge day, the only working day between it and the Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Dec 25	Friday	Christmas Day	Christmas Day on Friday December 25 sits next to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which makes it a long weekend.

2026 year summary

Total days

365

Weekend days

104

Gazetted holidays on weekdays

Working days

249

The 3 weekend dates in 2026 fall on a Saturday or Sunday, days the count already excludes, so the working-day reduction comes only from the 12 weekday dates. This list is the 14 holidays that the Department of Personnel and Training's Office Memorandum on the 2027 holidays (F.No.12/2/2023-JCA, dated 16 July 2026) lists as compulsory for Central Government administrative offices, plus Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti. All 14 dates in the data for 2027 are those of Annexure I of the memorandum dated 16 July 2026, read in the copy the Department of Posts forwarded on 8 September 2026. Rows marked approximate (2028 and 2029) are dates this site computed; no memorandum for those years has been read. A separate Office Memorandum of 9 April 2026 (No. 12/4/2020-JCA) declared 14 April 2026 a holiday for all Central Government offices, including industrial establishments, throughout India. That is the only such order read for this page; the data carries the day in every year from 2024 to 2029 and marks it unconfirmed in 2027 and 2029. Bank closures follow a different instrument: the Reserve Bank of India lists, for each of its regional offices, the holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, and every second and fourth Saturday has been one since a Government of India notification of 20 August 2015.

Sources for these rules

Holidays to be observed in Central Government offices during 2027: Annexure-I, the compulsory holidays and the days each state committee adds (Department of Posts, forwarding DoPT O.M. F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026)
Declaration of holiday on 14 April 2026, birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, for Central Government offices throughout India (Department of Posts, forwarding DoPT O.M. No. 12/4/2020-JCA dated 9 April 2026)
Holidays: holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act, by regional office (Reserve Bank of India)
Bank Holiday on Second & Fourth Saturdays from September 1 (press release 2015-2016/528) (Reserve Bank of India)

Checked October 13, 2026. All sources

Bank working days on Saturdays

This calendar treats every Saturday as a non-working day. Indian banks close only on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month and work full days on the first, third and fifth, so a count of bank working days can include more days than this calendar shows.

Saturdays the banks are open in 2026:

January: 3, 17, 31
February: 7, 21
March: 7
April: 4, 18
May: 2, 16, 30
June: 6, 20
July: 4, 18
August: 1, 29
September: 5, 19
October: 3, 17, 31
November: 7, 21
December: 5, 19

The list leaves out any of those Saturdays that is a holiday in this calendar, and a state bank holiday can still close the banks of that state on one of the others.

Source: Reserve Bank of India, Bank Holiday on Second & Fourth Saturdays from September 1 (press release 2015-2016/528). Checked October 1, 2026. All sources

Holidays not included

Only the days listed here are counted. Holidays declared for a single state, and the Restricted Holidays on the DoPT list, are not; for work tied to one state, add that state's dates in the calculator's Advanced options.

Sources for these rules

Holidays to be observed in Central Government offices during 2027: Annexure-I, the compulsory holidays and the days each state committee adds (Department of Posts, forwarding DoPT O.M. F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026)

Checked October 13, 2026. All sources

Other years

India holidays 2024 India holidays 2025 India holidays 2027 India holidays 2028 India business day calculator Working days in 2026 Holiday data methodology

← India business day calculator India 2025 holidays India 2027 holidays →

Sources and verification

Official source: Department of Posts, forwarding DoPT O.M. F.No.12/2/2023-JCA (utilities.cept.gov.in) (opens in a new tab)

Cross-checked against this source on September 8, 2026.

See all official sources →

India Holidays 2026 - FAQ

How many dates are on the 2026 India holiday calendar?

15 dates, each one a day this calculator treats as closed in 2026. Of those, 12 fall on a weekday and 3 land on a weekend. The complete list with dates and weekday placements is in the calendar table above.

How many working days does India have in 2026?

India has 249 working days in 2026 on the national-only count, after subtracting 104 weekend days and 12 weekday-falling Central Government holidays. This is the national count: it uses only the dates in the table above, so a holiday kept only in one region or by one sector is not in it.

Which 2026 gazetted holiday dates fall on a weekday?

12 of the 15 dates in the 2026 India holiday table fall on a weekday and reduce the working days count: Republic Day (Monday, January 26); Mahavir Jayanti (Tuesday, March 31); Good Friday (Friday, April 3); Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti (Tuesday, April 14); Buddha Purnima (Friday, May 1); Eid ul-Adha (Thursday, May 28); Muharram (Friday, June 26); Milad-un-Nabi (Wednesday, August 26); Gandhi Jayanti (Friday, October 2); Dussehra (Tuesday, October 20); Guru Nanak Jayanti (Tuesday, November 24); Christmas Day (Friday, December 25).

Which 2026 holidays fall on a weekend and how are they handled?

3 of the 2026 dates fall on a weekend: Eid ul-Fitr on Saturday, March 21; Independence Day on Saturday, August 15; Diwali on Sunday, November 8. Each is listed on its calendar date, and none of those entries takes a working day out of the count.