How holiday lists work in India
"Is it a holiday?" depends on who you work for and where. This page explains the central government list that the planner uses, and why your own office may follow a different one.
General information drawn from the documents cited below, not legal or HR advice. Your own office's holiday circular is what counts for you.
Closed (gazetted) holidays
Every year the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issues an office memorandum listing the holidays for central government offices. Annexure I is the list of holidays observed in all administrative offices of the Central Government located in Delhi/New Delhi. These are the days the offices are closed, often called gazetted holidays. For 2027 there are 17 of them.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, para 1 and Annexure I. Checked 26 October 2026.
Restricted holidays
Annexure II lists restricted holidays. These are optional: each employee may choose any two of them in the year. The Annexure II list is meant for central offices in Delhi/New Delhi; coordination committees in State capitals may draw up their own lists that reflect local occasions. The nine optional occasions not chosen as closed holidays are also added to the restricted list.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, paras 1 and 4. Checked 26 October 2026.
Central offices outside Delhi/New Delhi
Central government administrative offices elsewhere observe 14 holidays compulsorily:
- Republic Day
- Independence Day
- Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday
- Buddha Purnima
- Christmas Day
- Dussehra (Vijaya Dashmi)
- Diwali (Deepavali)
- Good Friday
- Guru Nanak's Birthday
- Idu'l Fitr
- Idu'l Zuha
- Mahavir Jayanti
- Muharram
- Prophet Mohammad's Birthday (Id-e-Milad)
Three more are chosen from the 12 optional occasions below by the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee in the State capital (for Delhi/New Delhi, DoPT itself picks the three). The final list then applies to all central offices in that State.
- An additional day for Dussehra
- Holi
- Janamashtami (Vaishnav)
- Ram Navami
- Maha Shivratri
- Ganesh Chaturthi / Vinayak Chaturthi
- Makar Sankranti
- Rath Yatra
- Onam
- Pongal
- Sri Panchami / Basant Panchami
- Vishu / Vaisakhi / Vaisakhadi / Bahag Bihu / Mashadi / Ugadi / Chaitra Sukladi / Cheti Chand / Gudi Padava / 1st Navratra / Naoraz / Chhath Pooja / Karva Chauth
So a central office in another State may have, for example, Pongal or Onam instead of a day that Delhi offices get. If that is you, add your State list on My holidays and untick the central list in the planner.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, paras 2 and 3.1. Checked 26 October 2026.
Dates that can move
For Id-ul-Fitr, Id-ul-Zuha, Muharram and Id-e-Milad, the date depends on the sighting of the moon. For Delhi/New Delhi offices, the Ministry of Personnel declares any change after checking with the Government of NCT of Delhi; outside Delhi, the State-capital coordination committees may change the date following the State Government's decision. A change at short notice may be announced through PIB, TV, AIR or newspapers, and offices may act on that announcement without waiting for a formal order.
This happens in practice: DoPT's order F. No. 12/3/2023-JCA of 22 May 2026 moved the Delhi/New Delhi holiday for Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid) from 27 May 2026 to 28 May 2026.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, paras 5.1 to 5.3. Checked 26 October 2026.
Source: Office Memorandum F. No. 12/3/2023-JCA dated 22 May 2026: Change in the date of holiday on account of Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid), Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. Checked 26 October 2026.
No substitute holidays
If a holiday falls on a weekly off or another non-working day, or two festivals fall on the same day, no substitute holiday is given. In 2027, Independence Day and Milad-un-Nabi or Id-e-Milad (Prophet Mohammad's Birthday) both fall on Sunday 15 August, so the two count as one day off.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, para 3.2 and Annexure I. Checked 26 October 2026.
Diwali and Naraka Chaturdasi
In some States Diwali is celebrated a day earlier, on Naraka Chaturdasi. Where a State Government declares only that day as the compulsory Diwali holiday for its own offices, central offices in that State may observe the Diwali holiday on Naraka Chaturdasi instead.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, para 6. Checked 26 October 2026.
Other central organisations, Union Territories and banks
- Central government organisations that include industrial, commercial and trading establishments observe up to 16 holidays a year, including the three national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday) as compulsory holidays; they decide the rest themselves.
- Union Territory administrations decide their lists under instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- For banks, holidays follow the instructions of the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.
Source: Office Memorandum F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026: Holidays to be observed in Central Government Offices during the year 2027, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, paras 7, 8 and 10. Checked 26 October 2026.
Two more facts about banks. Since 1 September 2015, all banks observe the second and fourth Saturdays of every month as holidays, following a Government notification under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. And the Reserve Bank's holiday list shows that holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act differ from one regional office to another, so a bank holiday in Kolkata may not be one in Mumbai.
Source: Press release 2015-2016/528 (28 August 2015): Bank Holiday on Second & Fourth Saturdays from September 1, Reserve Bank of India. Checked 26 October 2026.
Source: Holiday matrix: holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act by regional office, Reserve Bank of India. Checked 26 October 2026.
State government and private-sector holidays
State governments publish their own holiday lists for their own offices, and private employers set theirs in company policy. Neither has to match the central list. The planner cannot know them, so it lets you add them yourself; they stay in your browser.
Holidays declared by separate order
DoPT sometimes adds a holiday outside the annual memorandum. The DoPT circulars page lists separate orders declaring 14 April, Dr B. R. Ambedkar's birthday, a holiday in most years; the most recent listed is dated 27 March 2025. It also lists paid holidays for polling days in elections. None of these is in the planner unless you add it. Data checked 26 October 2026.
Source: DoPT circulars: list of orders and notifications on holidays, Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. Checked 26 October 2026.