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 2008, 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 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

 © 1989-2008 Alter Ego Services

08 Dec 2008 (Chandigarh Administration-Mera Chandigarh) The Chandigarh Administration has issued the schedule of holidays which will be observed as public holidays and restricted holidays in all Government Offices under the Chandigarh Administration, during the calendar year 2009. • 28 Nov 2008 (The Bihar Times-Patna) The Bihar government has declared a public holiday on November 29, 2008, on the date of the cremation of former Prime Minister V.P Singh. Besides state government offices, all government and private educational institutions will remain closed on that day. • 27 Nov 2008 (The Hindu-Delhi) Lt Governor of Delhi Tejinder Khanna issued a notification declaring November 29, 2008, as a one-off public holiday in all government offices, local bodies under Delhi Government on account of assembly elections in the capital. • 27 Nov 2008 (The Mangalorean-Bangalore) Karnataka State Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, declared a one-off public holiday on Friday, November 28, 2008, for schools, colleges, government offices and banks following the death of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh. • 11 Nov 2008 (The Punjab Newspaper-Chandigarh) Earlier today, the Punjab Government declared an afternoon public holiday, for tomorrow, Wednesday, November 12, 2008, to enable its employees to participate in Nagar Kirtan on the eve of Birthday of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. • 31 Oct 2008 (Times of India-Bangalore) The government of the India state of Karnatake (which includes Bangalore) has directed all establishments, public and private, in Karnataka to henceforth declare a holiday annually on November 1 on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava. • 13 Oct 2008 (India Info-Chandigarh) India's Punjab State government has declared this afternoon a public holiday in Government offices, Corporations, Boards and Educational institutions and in the city of Chandigarh. • 09 Oct 2008 The Himachal Pradesh government has declared a women-only gazetted public holiday for Friday, October 17, 2008, on the occasion of this year's Karvachauth festival. • 26 Sep 2008 (The Times of India) The Mizoram state government has announced a one-off state public holiday on Monday, September 29, 2008, so that the government employees and students could take part in the MKHC rally organized on that date. • 14 Sep 2008 (The Hindu-Chennai) The Tamil Nadu State government has declared Monday, September 15, 2008, a one-off public holiday on account of former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai’s birth centenary. • 11 Sep 2008 (UNI) The Lieutenant Governor of India's Puducherry State, Govind Singh Gurjar, announced that Friday, September 12, 2008, would be a public holiday for the Union territory on account of "Onam", the harvest festival of Kerala, instead of the restricted holiday, previously announced. In compensation, Saturday, September 27, 2008, will be a regular working day. • 01 Jul 2008 (Punjab Newsline Network-Chandigarh) Following the death of former Speaker of Punjab, the Chief Minister announced that Tuesday, July 1st, 2008, would be a one-off public holiday throughout the State, and ordered all the Government offices, state undertakings, corporations and educational institutions throughout the state to remain closed on that day. • 20 Mar 2008 (Deccan Herald-Karnataka) Most of the Governments of Indian States where the Prophet's Birthday (Id-e-Milad-un-Nabi) is a public holiday, have declared a day in lieu, on Saturday, March 22, 2008, to compensate for the fact that the public holiday of Good Friday occurs on that same date, and in many cases also the Hindu public holiday of Holi (or Holikadahana, depending on the State). • 16 Jan 2008 (Press Information Bureau Government of India) The Government of India has moved its observance of the upcoming Muharram public holiday, from Saturday, January 19, to Sunday, January 20, 2008. This change is expected to be the norm throughout the parts of India where Muharram is a public holiday • 28 Dec 2007 (Punjab Newsline) The State Government of Punjab has announced its 2008 official list of 28 public holidays and 18 restricted holidays (from which an employee can choose any two days). • 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. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: 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 (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

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 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. For more details on the evaluation of Hindu holidays, see Hindu Calendar holidays.

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 2009 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 2008 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.