Holidays in India 2026 and 2027: Employer Calendar Guide

Why did your Bengaluru team log off for four days while Mumbai worked straight through? Because holidays in India run on dozens of calendars, not one.

We have helped over 300 global companies hire, pay, and manage more than 2,000 employees in India without setting up a local business entity, and this is the question we hear most in year one. Here are the verified 2026 and 2027 dates and the days that stop money moving.

What are the national holidays in India?

India has exactly three national holidays: Republic Day on January 26, Independence Day on August 15, and Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. They apply in every state and union territory, to public and private employers alike, and every employee gets them as paid days off.

The dates never change, only the weekday does.

One correction many calendars miss: the duty to pay for these days comes from state law, usually a National and Festival Holidays Act or a Shops and Establishments Act, not from the Negotiable Instruments Act, which governs bank closures.

Every establishment must close on these three days. A business that has to operate needs the employee's consent and must pay the state's holiday rate, and some state Acts also require advance notice to the labour inspector.

Christmas, Diwali, Dussehra, Holi and Janmashtami are not national holidays. They are central gazetted holidays, so central offices close, and most states and private employers give them too.

For how these days sit alongside earned, casual and sick leave, see our guide to leave policy laws and holidays in India.

What are the upcoming holidays in India in 2026?

The next holidays in India are Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, October 2, Dussehra on Tuesday, October 20, Diwali on Sunday, November 8, Guru Nanak Jayanti on Tuesday, November 24, and Christmas on Friday, December 25. Those five close central government offices.

The restricted and state days around them decide how many people are actually at work. Here is every remaining 2026 date, by type, as of September 30, 2026.

Diwali falls on a Sunday this year, so the Monday after is the day most teams quietly take off. Plan cover for that week before anything else in the quarter.

What is the full list of public holidays in India in 2026?

The 2026 holiday calendar for India starts with the central government's list of 17 gazetted public holidays, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in Office Memorandum F.No. 12/2/2023-JCA dated July 3, 2025. Central offices in Delhi observe all 17. Offices elsewhere observe 14 fixed holidays plus three chosen locally from 12 optional festivals.

That split is why national and state calendars can disagree without either being wrong. One date also moved: DoPT shifted Bakrid from May 27 to May 28, 2026 after the moon sighting.

Independence Day fell on a Saturday and Diwali on a Sunday, and DoPT grants no substitute day when a festival lands on a weekly off. Tracking this sits within wider statutory compliance in HR.

Note: Id-ul-Fitr, Bakrid, Muharram and Milad-un-Nabi follow the moon, so final dates are confirmed only days ahead. DoPT publishes each change.

Treat those four lunar dates as provisional until the week before, and every other date as fixed.

Which 12 optional holidays can offices outside Delhi choose from?

Central government offices outside Delhi observe 14 compulsory holidays and pick three more from 12 options. The choice is made by the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee in each state capital.

The 12 options are:

• An additional day for Dussehra
• Holi
• Janmashtami (Vaishnavi)
• Ram Navami
• Maha Shivratri
• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Makar Sankranti
• Rath Yatra
• Onam
• Pongal
• Basant Panchami
• Vishu, Vaisakhi, Bihu, Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Chhath Puja or Karwa Chauth

That is why Hyderabad offices close for Ganesh Chaturthi while Delhi offices close for Holi.

Read the central list as a base, then check which three local picks apply where your team sits.

How many public holidays do employees in India get?

There is no single national number. Most private employers in India give 10 to 14 paid public holidays a year, built from four layers. Only the three national holidays are compulsory everywhere, and the rest depends on the state and company policy.

The four layers are:

• National holidays: three fixed days, compulsory for every employer.
• Central gazetted holidays: 17 days binding central government offices, public sector undertakings and banks.
• State holidays: each state and union territory notifies its own list every year.
• Restricted holidays: optional festivals from which each employee picks two.

The legal floor is lower than US teams used to 11 federal holidays expect. Tamil Nadu requires nine paid holidays a year, four fixed days including Labour Day on May 1 plus five festivals, and Karnataka requires ten.

Employers that give only the minimum struggle to hire, so the market sits well above it. For the wider policy set, see our guide to HR policies in India.

What does a private company holiday list look like in 2026?

From the calendars we set up for clients, a typical private company gives 10 to 14 paid holidays: the three national days, the state's own festival days, and the festivals most staff observe.

The list below is an illustrative pattern for a Bengaluru or Hyderabad office in 2026.

Swap the regional rows for your state, and add two restricted picks on top.

Start from the state minimum, then match the market, and the right number settles itself.

How do India's holidays compare with the US and UK?

India has fewer compulsory holidays than the UK but more than the US. Only three national days bind every employer, against eight bank holidays in England and Wales and none that US private employers must give. In practice, Indian staff get 10 to 14 paid holidays, close to the 11 US federal holidays.

The bigger difference is who decides. Indian law sets a floor state by state, while US and UK employers set holidays by policy and contract. US federal holidays come from 5 U.S.C. 6103, and UK bank holidays from GOV.UK.

Budget India time off as festivals plus leave, not as a federal-style list, and headcount plans stay realistic.

What are restricted holidays in India?

Restricted holidays are festivals the central government recognizes without closing offices. They sit in Annexure II of the DoPT memorandum, and each central government employee may take any two a year. Many private employers borrow the idea as floating holidays, so staff can mark their own festivals.

The difference is simple: a gazetted holiday closes the office for everyone, while a restricted holiday keeps it open and lets each person take the day. The 2026 list has 34 restricted holidays.

Having run these choices for more than 2,000 employees, what works is simple: collect every pick in January and treat it as booked leave.

Want a ready policy? Our free Holiday and Leave Policy Tool drafts one for your state, with restricted holidays built in.

What are the state holidays in India in 2026?

State holidays are declared by each state and union territory under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act and local holiday laws. A date that closes offices in one state can be a normal workday next door.

These are the state holidays that most often affect global teams. For any other state, the official state and union territory holiday calendar is the primary source.

Some states stretch these into multi-day closures. Kerala declared holidays from August 25 to 28 for Onam this year.

If your people sit in one of these states, our state guides go deeper:

• Hiring in Chennai? See leave policy in Tamil Nadu.
• Teams in Kochi: read leave policy in Kerala.
• For Mumbai and Pune, read leave policy in Maharashtra.
• Bengaluru teams can refer to leave policy in Karnataka.
• Kolkata teams: leave policy in West Bengal covers Durga Puja.
• Building in Hyderabad? See leave policy in Telangana.
• Ahmedabad teams can refer to leave policy in Gujarat.
• If you are interested in the Chhath window, read leave policy in Bihar.
• Bhubaneswar teams: see leave policy in Odisha for Rath Yatra and Utkal Divas.
• For Mohali and Ludhiana, read leave policy in Punjab.
• Noida and Lucknow teams can refer to leave policy in Uttar Pradesh.

Each guide lists that state's festival holidays and the leave rules that sit beside them.

How do you check the holiday list for a specific state?

Each state publishes its list in its official gazette, usually in December for the year ahead. The National Portal of India's state and union territory calendar collects them, and RBI's holiday matrix shows which days close banks in that state. Check both, since the two lists differ.

Save both sources in your HR runbook and recheck them every December.

Plan by state first, and the national list becomes a checklist rather than a guess.

What are the major festivals celebrated in India?

The major festivals celebrated in India are Diwali, Holi, Dussehra and Durga Puja, Id-ul-Fitr, Bakrid, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Pongal and Chhath Puja. Together they explain most of the holiday calendar.

Each one marks a religious or harvest event. The table shows what each festival celebrates and where it closes offices.

Knowing what each festival means helps you time greetings, gifts and cover without guesswork.

Which festivals slow down work in India the most?

Diwali, Durga Puja and Chhath pull output down for days beyond the official date, because employees travel home and families gather. Festivals are family events, not optional days off, which is central to Indian work culture.

The windows to keep out of launch plans for the rest of 2026:

• Diwali, November 8: observed everywhere. It falls on a Sunday, but expect four to five soft days around it.
• Durga Puja and Dussehra, October 17 to 20: Kolkata teams are out most of the week, and Dussehra closes offices nationally on October 20.
• Chhath Puja, November 13 to 16: heavy travel for teams from Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

From our experience, arrange headquarters cover for Diwali week three weeks ahead, and keep releases out of it.

Mark these windows in the shared calendar in January, and festival season stops surprising the team.

What are the bank holidays in India in 2026?

Bank holidays are a separate list, declared state by state under the Negotiable Instruments Act and published by the Reserve Bank of India. A public holiday does not always close banks, and a bank holiday is not always a public holiday. When banks close, wires can sit for a day or more.

We process over $20 million in annual payroll for global clients, and bank closures surprise almost every new team. Four kinds of day close banks.

The working rule is to start salary and contractor payments at least two business days before any state closure. RBI's holiday matrix filters closures by state and month.

Which holidays delay payroll and wire transfers most?

Four windows cause most late payments, and each has a simple fix:

1. Republic Day, January 26: clear January payroll by the Friday before.
2. Holi, early March: much of North India takes the next day too, so start payments a week ahead.
3. Id-ul-Fitr and Bakrid: both can move by a day, as Bakrid did in 2026, so keep a one day buffer each side.
4. Diwali, November 8, 2026: the longest disruption of the year, so fund your India account by Thursday, November 5.

The compliance risk is a statutory deadline next to a festival. TDS is due by the 7th and PF and ESI by the 15th, so an October or November holiday squeezes the window. Our India payroll deadlines calendar maps each one.

Contractor invoices caught mid clearing on a state-only holiday carry their own risk, covered in our note on cross-border contractor payment risks.

Build these dates into your payroll cycle in India once, and salaries clear on the promised day every month.

When are the long weekends in India in 2026?

A long weekend forms when a holiday lands on a Friday or Monday, or on a Tuesday or Thursday that staff bridge with one day of leave. India has nine such windows in 2026, and five are still ahead as of late September.

Six 2026 gazetted holidays fall on a Friday: Good Friday, Buddha Purnima, Muharram, Janmashtami, Gandhi Jayanti and Christmas. Republic Day fell on a Monday, and Mahavir Jayanti, Dussehra and Guru Nanak Jayanti fall on a Tuesday.

Use the list to plan delivery dates and cover for the final quarter.

Two dates often listed as long weekends were not: Holi on Wednesday, March 4 needed two bridge days, and Independence Day on Saturday, August 15 had no closure after it.

If this is your first India team, our walkthrough for a US company hiring employees in India covers the rest of the setup.

What must employers pay if staff work on a public holiday in India?

Under most state National and Festival Holidays Acts, an employee who works on a national or festival holiday is entitled to twice the normal daily wage, or normal wages plus a paid substitute day off. In several states the employee, not the employer, chooses which.

Three practical points follow:

• Holiday on a weekly off: there is no automatic replacement day unless your policy or state law grants one.
• Overtime: long holiday shifts can also trigger overtime at twice the ordinary rate under the Code on Wages, as our guide to overtime rules in India explains.
• Contractors: independent contractors are not covered by these Acts, so their holiday pay depends on the contract.

Put the rule in your holiday policy, and a holiday shift becomes a routine approval rather than a dispute.

Is election day a paid holiday in India?

Yes. Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 gives every employee entitled to vote a paid holiday on polling day, including daily wage and casual workers. No wage deduction is allowed, and an employer who refuses can be fined up to ₹500 (about $6).

It never appears on a printed calendar. In 2026 it applied in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for the assembly elections.

Most states also declare dry days, when alcohol sales stop, on polling days and national holidays, so plan client events around them.

Keep the PIB notice on paid polling day holidays on file in case anyone questions the entitlement.

How did India's new labour codes change holiday and leave rules?

The four labour codes took effect on November 21, 2025, and central rules under all four were notified on May 8, 2026. They left the national holidays and state festival holiday duties untouched, so the calendar above does not change. What moved is annual leave.

Two changes matter for holiday planning:

• Annual leave now vests after 180 days of work in a calendar year, down from 240, at one day per 20 days worked under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. See how prorated PTO in India works for mid-year joiners.
• State rules are still catching up, so most private employers follow their state, and more generous state provisions still apply.

Cite the Ministry of Labour and Employment's official FAQs on the codes in your policy, and read our breakdown of the new labour codes in India for everything else that changed.

What are the holidays in India in 2027?

DoPT released the 2027 central government holiday list on July 16, 2026. It again carries 17 gazetted holidays for Delhi offices, with 14 compulsory days and three local picks elsewhere, and employees can still take two restricted holidays.

The 2027 calendar lands badly for employees. Six of the 17 fall on a weekend, Milad-un-Nabi coincides with Independence Day on Sunday, August 15, and Diwali moves early, to Friday, October 29.

Four 2027 long weekends need no leave: Good Friday, March 26 to 28; Mahavir Jayanti, April 17 to 19; Bakrid, May 15 to 17; and Diwali, October 29 to 31.

With no substitute days for weekend festivals, expect questions about compensatory time. Draft 2027 on these dates now, then revise once in January when state and bank lists are out.

How can Wisemonk help you manage India's holiday calendar?

Wisemonk is an India-native EOR (Employer of Record). We become the legal employer for your team in India, so you can hire, pay, and manage people without a local entity, and the holiday calendar becomes our job rather than yours.

Here is what that covers:

• Hiring and onboarding: We source candidates, issue compliant offer letters and employment contracts, and set up each hire's state holiday list and restricted holiday choices in week one. See this guide on how to hire in India without an entity.
• Payroll: We run monthly payroll in rupees, deduct TDS, PF, ESI and professional tax correctly, and schedule every run around state bank closures, so salaries arrive on time. Read more in our guide to payroll compliance in India.
• Benefits administration: We enroll employees in group health insurance, manage statutory benefits such as gratuity, and track leave balances, holiday pay and compensatory days off. See this guide to employee benefits in India.
• Statutory compliance: We track central and state notifications, including holiday lists, labour code rules and Shops and Establishments registrations, and file the returns that go with them. Read more about labor laws in India.
• Contractor management: We draft compliant contractor agreements, pay invoices locally, and flag misclassification risk early. See this guide to hiring independent contractors in India.

Refer to our blogs for more detail, and if you are still weighing providers, see our comparison of the best EOR services in India.

India is where we are strongest. We handle employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance for your India team in-house, with our own people on the ground. We are planning to extend into further markets, including the US and the UK, in future.

What do clients say about working with Wisemonk?

Two clients on what dependable India payroll looks like:

“Red Hill Technology Solutions has run its India engineering team on Wisemonk for the past year and a half. They handle payroll and benefits end to end, so I can offer my employees good health insurance without having to master the idiosyncrasies of Indian benefits myself. Payroll cutoff reminders arrive every month before I need them, and off-cycle bonus runs have never been a problem. Even equipment purchasing, a real headache for a US company shipping to Indian addresses, is as simple as telling them what I need. Exchange rates are fair and the pricing is transparent. Deepika Elumalai, our point of contact, ties it all together. Whatever comes up, she pulls in the right people and sees it through. For any US company building a team in India, Wisemonk is an easy recommendation.”
- Tak Yamamoto, President, Red Hill Technology Solutions, Inc.

“We came across Wisemonk and met with the CEO and staff to explain our situation, and were very impressed with their customer-focused approach to their business. Wisemonk onboarded all of my employees in one or two days. They paid my employees' salaries on the day after my payment cleared. Needless to say, my employees and I were very satisfied with their service then and remain so over a year later. We are an American company, so I was very happy to see that they have a US bank account where I can make ACH payments to minimize bank charges. All salary payments are timely. They worked directly with my employees to enroll them in the health care program and explain any coverage-related issues. The best part is that we get to work with a dedicated person assigned to our company. I would highly recommend Wisemonk and think of them as our Indian HR department.”
- Frank Menes, Founder & CEO, Senem RFP