Holiday Calendar 2026

The Central Government has declared 17 gazetted holidays for 2026, which includes the 3 mandatory national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti) and 14 other major festivals. States can add further holidays on top of this. Private companies may observe anywhere from 10 to 15 public holidays depending on their internal leave policy and the state they operate in.

The 3 national holidays are mandatory for all employers, public and private, under applicable labour laws. Beyond that, private companies follow their own holiday policy, which is usually framed in the appointment letter or company handbook. Many private employers do adopt the gazetted holiday list, but they are not legally obligated to observe every one of them. It is always best to check your company's annual holiday list released at the start of the year.

Restricted holidays (also called optional holidays) are a list of festivals and observances from which Central Government employees may pick any 2 per year to avail as paid leave. The list typically contains 30+ festivals covering different religions and regions. Many private companies run a similar system, letting employees choose 2 or 3 optional holidays from a pre-approved list to respect the country's religious diversity.

The RBI publishes its bank holiday calendar under the Negotiable Instruments Act, and that act allows state-specific festivals to be recognized as bank holidays within that state. So a festival like Bihu (Assam), Onam (Kerala), or Pongal (Tamil Nadu) may close banks in those states but not elsewhere. The national holidays close all banks uniformly. Always check the RBI's official Holiday Matrix for your specific city before planning a bank visit for time-sensitive transactions.

No. The dates for Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Muharram, and Milad-un-Nabi are tentative because they depend on moon-sighting confirmation. The dates in this calendar (Eid-ul-Fitr around 21 March, Eid-ul-Adha around 27 May, Muharram around 26 June) are based on astronomical projections. Official holiday announcements typically come 1-2 days before the festival. HR teams should keep this in mind when finalizing staffing plans around these dates.

There is no universal rule on this for the private sector. Central Government employees are typically entitled to a substitute holiday if a gazetted holiday falls on a Sunday, as per applicable rules. For private employees, the entitlement to a compensatory day depends entirely on your company's HR policy and employment contract. It is good practice for HR teams to address this in their holiday policy document at the start of the year to avoid ambiguity.