India’s Public Holidays in 2018

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(For India’s Public Holidays List 2019 click here; and for 2017here)

The government has announced its holiday schedule for 2018. The schedule is divided across three classifications: gazetted, restricted, as well as state and union territory. Gazetted holidays are mandatory, restricted holidays are optional, and state and union territory holidays are local.

Many foreign human resource managers struggle with India’s holiday schedule. That is no surprise: the federal and state governments have acknowledged a number of holidays every month to accommodate over 1.3 billion people spread over 36 diverse states and union territories.

Although there are many ways to manage this schedule, many businesses in India close offices on the gazetted holidays and grant employees several optional holidays that they may select to observe a non-gazetted holiday of their choosing. Other businesses simply mirror the holiday schedule observed by the management of their office building.

Gazetted holidays for 2018

  • January 26: Republic Day
  • February 14: Maha Shivaratri
  • March 2: Holi
  • March 29: Mahavir Jayanti
  • March 30: Good Friday
  • April 30: Buddha Purnima
  • June 16: Id-ul- Fitr
  • August 15: Independence Day
  • August 22: Id-ul-Zuha (Bakri Id)
  • September 3: Janmashtami
  • September 21: Muharram
  • October 2: Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday
  • October 19: Dussehra
  • November 7: Diwali (Deepavali)
  • November 21: Id-e-Milad (Prophet Muhammad’s birthday)
  • November 23: Guru Nanak’s birthday
  • December 25: Christmas Day

Non-gazetted holidays for 2018

  • January 1: New Year’s Day
  • January 14: Makar Sankranti/Pongal
  • January 22: Basant Panchami
  • January 31: Guru Ravidas’s birthday
  • February 10: Swami Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti
  • February 19: Shivaji Jayanti
  • March 1: Holika Dahan/Dolyatra
  • March 18: Ugadi/Gudi Padava/ Chaitra Sukladi/Cheti Chand
  • March 25: Ram Navami
  • April 1: Easter Sunday/Hazrat Ali’s birthday
  • April 14: Vaisakhi/Vishu/Mesadi
  • April 15: Vaisakhadi (Bengal)/Bahag Bihu (Assam)
  • May 9: Guru Rabindranath’s birthday
  • June 15: Jamat-ul-Vida
  • July 14: Rath Yatra
  • August 17: Parsi New Year/Nauraj
  • August 25: Onam
  • August 26: Raksha Bandhan
  • September 13: Ganesh Chaturthi/Vinayaka Chaturthi
  • October 16: Dussehra (Maha Saptami)
  • October 17: Dussehra (Maha Ashtami)
  • October 18: Dussehra (Maha Navmi)
  • October 24: Maharishi Valmiki’s birthday
  • October 27: Karva Chouth
  • November 6: Deepavali (South India)/Naraka Chaturdasi
  • November 8: Govardhan Puja
  • November 9: Bhai Dhuj
  • November 13: Chhat Puja
  • November 24: Guru Teg Bahadur’s Martyrdom Day
  • December 24: Christmas Eve

Please note that a few public holidays will occur over weekends, including: Ram Navami, Buddha Purnima, and Id-e-Milad.

State and union territory holidays

The list of state and union territory holidays is quite large. Please follow the hyperlink to review local holidays that apply to your place of business.

In addition to office closures, governments in state and union territories often observe “dry days” or days when the sale of alcohol is not permitted, on gazetted and state and union territory holidays. Dry days also routinely occur on local election dates.

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