Site Map

Contact

Search

Home

India

Home
Q++ Studio
World Holidays

Downloads
References

About Us
Subscribe
Site Map
Contact
Search
News
Blog
FAQ

Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for India

The list of India bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2010, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

 © 1989-2010 Alter Ego Services

01 Sep 2010 (ChennaiOnline News-Lucknow) The government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has declared public holiday to coincide with the upcoming Jamat-ul-Vida, on Friday, September 3, 2010. • 27 Aug 2010 (IBN Live News-Panaji) The chief minister of India's State of Goa, Digamber Kamat, has announced that this afternoon, as well as tomorrow, Saturday, August 28, 2010, would be observed as state public holidays. • 12 Jul 2010 (Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions-New Delhi) The Indian Government has also declared the Thursday, October 14th, 2010, as a one-off public holiday for Central Government Offices, including Central Public Sector Undertakings, located in Delhi/New Delhi on the occasion of Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010. • 01 Jun 2010 (Himachal Pradesh Government-Shimla) The government of India's State of Himachal Pradesh has declared June 26 as a gazetted public holiday instead of the earlier announced date of June 28, 2010, on the occasion of the upcoming public holiday of Sant Guru Kabir Jayanti. • 12 May 2010 (The Hindustan Times-Chandigarh) The Government of India's State of Punjab has declared a one-off public holiday, for all offices, educational institutions and offices of Boards and Corporations located in Chandigarh and Punjab, on Friday, May 14, 2010, on account of the tercentenary celebrations of "Sirhind Fateh Divas". • 15 Mar 2010 (The Bihar Times-Patna) The government of India's State of Bihar has announced a new public holiday, Bihar Day (Bihar Divas), to be celebrated on March 22, annually. • 26 Feb 2010 (NRI News-Chandigarh) The government of India's State of Punjab has announced that it had decided to change to Monday, March 1st, 2010, the date of the upcoming public holiday associated with the Holi Festival. • 29 Jan 2010 (Punjab Newsline Network-Shimla) The government of India's State of Himachal Pradesh has declared Saturday, January 30, 2010, as a gazetted holiday, instead of the previously announced restricted holiday, on account of Guru Ravi Dass Birthday. • 17 Jan 2010 (Punjab Newsline-Chandigarh) The Indian State Governments of Punjab and West Bengal have declared a one-off public holiday for tomorrow, Monday, January 18, 2010, to mark the passing away of the former Chief Minister of West Bengal and C.P.M Leader, Jyoti Basu, who died in Kolkata earlier today. • 25 Dec 2009 (The Hindu-Palakkad) The Chief Minister of India's State of Kerala, V.S. Achuthanandan, has promised a delegation of the Kerala State Tamil Protection Council that the Kerala state government would consider its request to declare a public holiday for Makarapongal. • 04 Nov 2009 (Indian Express-New Delhi) The Lieutenant-Governor of India's Delhi Capital State, Tejendra Khanna, has approved a full state public holiday for Thursday, October 14, 2010, on the occasion of the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. • 31 Oct 2009 (Deccan Chronicle-Hyderabad) The state government of India's State of Andhra Pradesh released the official list of Andhra Pradesh State public holidays for the year 2010. • 19 Oct 2009 (Government of Tamil Nadu-Chennai) The Government of the Indian State of Tamil Nadu has published the official list of 2010 public holidays in the State of Tamil Nadu. • 28 Jul 2009 (The Times of India-New Delhi) The Chairperson of the India's Organising Committee (OC) for the Commonwealth Games 2010, Suresh Kalmadi, has announced that it had been decided that the day of the closing ceremony of the games would be declared a public holiday. • 13 Jun 2009 (The Times of India-New Delhi) The Ministry of Personnel, Government of India, has announced the list of public sector holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2010. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the India public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Full national public holidays: There are many festivals and special events in India, but only three of these are full national public holidays. They are Republic Day on January 26, Independence Day on August 15, and Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday on October 2. • In India General Holidays usually mean Government Holidays, and Public Holidays or Gazetted or Compulsory holidays are holidays that are usually observed by everyone in the area, banks, government, and schools included. • Other than the first three national public holidays, all others are either regional or religious holidays and not recognized as national public holidays. In some areas workers have the option of choosing from a list of possible public holidays. In most areas, depending on the industry or company, employees may choose at least 2 other holidays (and sometimes up to 6 or 9) from a list that is usually referred to as Restricted Holidays. • Indian States and Territories: There are 28 Indian States and 7 Union Territories (denoted by an asterisk). Their 2-letter codes are: •AN* Andaman/Nicobar, •AP Andhra Pradesh, •AR Arunachal Pradesh, •AS Assam, •BR Bihar, •CG Chattisgarh, •CH* Chandigarh, •DD* Daman/Diu, •DL* Delhi, •DN* Dadra and Nagar Haveli, •GA Goa, •GJ Gujarat, •HP Himachal Pradesh, •HR Haryana, •JH Jharkhand, •JK Jammu/Kashmir, •KA Karnataka, •KL Kerala, •LD* Lakshadweep, •MH Maharashtra, •ML Meghalaya, •MN Manipur, •MP Madhya Pradesh, •MZ Mizoram, •NL Nagaland, •OR Orissa, •PB Punjab, •PY* Puducherry, •RJ Rajasthan, •SK Sikkim, •TN Tamil Nadu, •TR Tripura, •UK Uttarakhand (formerly UA-Uttaranchal), •UP Uttar Pradesh, •WB West Bengal. • Bank Holidays: Banks are not governed by the list of gazette holidays put out by the Centre every year, but instead have to depend on state governments, which have powers under the Negotiable Instruments Act to declare local holidays based on festivals and important regional events. • Regional and Restricted Holidays: In addition to the above three national public holidays, the other ones that tend to be observed by most, among the ones listed, are (note that Jayanti means birthday): Islamic New Year (Muharram), Maha Shivaratri, Ram Navami, Mahavir Jayanti, Milad un Nabi (The Prophet's Birthday), Good Friday, Buddha Purnima (Buddha Day), Janmashtami, Ramazan (End of Ramadan), Guru Nanak Jayanti, Bakrid (Feast of Sacrifice), andChristmas Day. • There are currently 17 compulsory public holidays; five are Muslim celebrations, five Hindu, two Christian and one each is Buddhist, Jain and Sikh. In addition, there is a list of around 35 festivals (the number varies from state to state), • As an historical aside, in 1924, there were 18 public holidays in India, of which Diwali, Easter and Christmas were allotted three days each, and the New Year holiday spanned the last day of the present year as well as the first day of the coming year. The list contained only one Muslim celebration (although Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of India at the time), in contrast to seven Hindu ones, including Mahashivaratri, Holi, Coconut Day, and Ganesh Chaturthi. Two days in the year were also dedicated to the celebration of empire: Empire Day in May and the King’s Birthday in June. • Some holidays are celebrated a day earlier in some areas. This happens usually more in the south but isn't limited to that area. • For example, Diwali (or Deepevali, as it is more likely to be called in Southern India and overseas communities that hail from Southern India) is often celebrated on a different day in the south and in southern expatriates . • Despite the great number of public holidays, the work ethic in India is such that business meetings may be scheduled during a holiday if needed. • India International Codes IN and IND (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .in (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of India information and news: Reserve Bank of India (India central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (India maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in India), and Wikipedia (includes India commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in India, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in India that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays, for India, were calculated using a mathematical model that is based on Sufist lunar visibility criteria. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Hindu Calendar Public Holidays : For India, when calculating the date of bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays based on the Hindu Lunar calendar, if the date is expunged (ie. does not occur), then we use the following existing date of the Hindu Lunar calendar. Local practice concerning expunged days may vary regionally as described in many sources, including the 1998 book The Indian Calendric System by G.K. Chatterjee.

Solar Holidays : The calculation of moon phases, moonrises, moonsets, equinoxes, solstices, sunrises, and sunsets used to predict solar bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for India are based on the geographical location of New Delhi (latitude 28,6°N, longitude 77,2°E, GMT+5,5 hours, no summer time rules). Note that many countries in South-East Asia are progressively changing the recurrence rule of some of their lunar/solar holidays to rules based on fixed dates of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Therefore, while the dates predicted above for 2011 and beyond are currently technically correct, the rules of these holidays may change in the next few years. For more details on lunar and solar holidays, see the Lunisolar Footnotes.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2010 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for India, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of India, before planning any trip to India. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.