India does not use one uniform public-holiday calendar. The Union government sets a calendar for Central Government offices, while each state and Union territory issues its own annual list and may add festivals, state-formation days, local commemorations, bank holidays or district holidays. The three national days, Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, recur in the central and state systems, but the remaining holidays vary by jurisdiction and by type of workplace. The legal basis is partly administrative and partly statutory: the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, section 25, permits public holidays to be declared by notification, with that power delegated to state governments for their areas, while state employment laws regulate paid holidays for covered establishments. The official National Portal publishes separate calendars for Central Government offices and for each state and Union territory (National Portal of India).
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How the national and regional systems differ
The Central Government calendar applies primarily to Central Government administrative offices and related Union establishments. The Department of Personnel and Training’s holiday instructions provide a common compulsory group and allow Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committees in state capitals to select additional holidays according to local importance. The instructions also permit Union territory administrations to decide their own calendars under Ministry of Home Affairs instructions (Department of Personnel and Training holiday instructions).
A state holiday notification normally applies to offices of that state government, courts and other institutions named in the notification. It does not automatically close every private employer. Private shops, commercial establishments, factories and other workplaces are governed by the applicable state Shops and Establishments Act, factories legislation, industrial-holiday legislation, standing orders or employment contract. For example, the Andhra Pradesh Factories and Establishments (National, Festival and other Holidays) Act, 1974 applies to persons employed in factories and establishments in Andhra Pradesh. In Chhattisgarh, section 11 of the Chhattisgarh Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, in force since 13 February 2025 in place of the Act of 1958, gives workers in shops and establishments employing ten or more people eight paid holidays a year: Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti and five festival holidays agreed between employer and workers before the year begins (India Code, Andhra Pradesh Act; Chhattisgarh Shops and Establishments Act, 2017; notification of its effective date).
Consequently, a holiday declared for state government offices is not automatically a statutory day off for every employee in that state. A private employer must follow the labour legislation applicable to its establishment and sector. State notifications may separately identify government-office holidays, bank holidays, commercial and industrial holidays, restricted holidays and local holidays.
States and Union territories with separate calendars
The National Portal provides separate state or Union territory calendars for all 28 states and all 8 Union territories. The jurisdictions are:
- Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
These regional calendars differ from the central calendar in the festivals selected, the number and classification of holidays, the treatment of local observances and the institutions covered. The official India Post calendar also separates its all-India list from individual postal circles such as Assam, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, showing how a Union service can operate with regional holiday schedules (India Post holiday lists).
Examples of region-specific holidays
Assam’s 2026 government calendar includes state and community observances such as Magh Bihu, Bohag Bihu, Kati Bihu, the birth anniversaries or commemorative days of Assamese religious and cultural figures, and Asom Divas. It also lists restricted holidays connected with festivals of communities and autonomous areas within Assam. The dates are fixed annually by the Assam General Administration Department’s notification (Government of Assam, 2026 holiday list; Assam Government Holiday List 2026).
Goa’s 2026 notification separates public holidays, special holidays, restricted holidays, commercial and industrial holidays and bank holidays. It also permits special holidays for government employees and declares a distinct set of commercial and industrial holidays for workers, illustrating that one state may operate several legally relevant holiday categories at the same time (Government of Goa, holiday notification for 2026).
Odisha issues separate calendars for state government offices, revenue and magisterial courts, banks and other banking institutions. Its Revenue and Disaster Management Department also records local holidays for particular districts or constituencies and issued a 2025 notification withdrawing Panchayatiraj Dibasa from the holiday list (Government of Odisha, declaration of holidays; Odisha notification withdrawing Panchayatiraj Dibasa).
In Tamil Nadu, the state government issues a calendar for state departments separately from the Central Government calendar used by central offices located in the state. The state system is the relevant source for state-office closures and state employment rules, while central offices follow the Union instructions unless a specific regional selection applies (Tamil Nadu government holiday lists).
Local and district holidays
Regional variation can operate below the state level. A state notification may declare a holiday for a district, constituency, municipality, court, bank or other defined locality rather than for the whole state. Odisha’s official holiday records include local holidays for particular districts and an assembly constituency.
Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires an employer to grant a paid holiday on polling day to an employee entitled to vote in an election to the House of the People or a state or Union territory legislative assembly. It covers employees of businesses, trades, industrial undertakings and other establishments, daily-wage and casual workers among them, and goes with the elector: an employee registered in a constituency that is polling is entitled to it wherever the job is. For the Kerala and Puducherry polls of 9 April 2026, Goa declared a paid holiday throughout the state for every employee entitled to vote in them (Election Commission and Press Information Bureau, paid holiday on polling day; All India Radio, 3 April 2026; Government of Goa, notification of 8 April 2026; Representation of the People Act, 1951).
Legal and administrative basis
Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 defines a public holiday for the purposes of negotiable instruments and allows a day to be declared a public holiday by notification in the Official Gazette. The Reserve Bank of India records that the Central Government delegated this holiday-declaration power to state governments through Ministry of Home Affairs Notification No. 20-25-56-Public-I dated 8 June 1957. States use this authority in particular for bank and commercial holiday notifications (Reserve Bank of India explanation of section 25; India Code, Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881).
Employment rights come from separate state instruments. The Andhra Pradesh Factories and Establishments (National, Festival and other Holidays) Act, 1974 is an example of a state statute specifically governing national and festival holidays for covered workers. Other states use Shops and Establishments Acts, factories rules, industrial-establishment holiday Acts or annual notifications. The governing instrument depends on the workplace, not only on the location.
Union territories are constitutionally part of India. Article 1 and the First Schedule of the Constitution include Union territories within the territory of India, and Articles 239 to 241 provide their administrative basis. The Ministry of Home Affairs states that Union territories are administered through the constitutional Union territory system and that their administrations issue decisions on matters assigned to them (Constitution of India, consolidated text published by the Legislative Department; Ministry of Home Affairs, Union territory administration).
Special administrative regions, overseas territories and autonomous areas
India has no Hong Kong-style or Macau-style Special Administrative Region and no overseas territory with a separate holiday code. Its eight Union territories are internal constitutional territories, not external possessions. Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry have legislatures, but their holiday calendars remain part of India’s Union territory and labour-administration system.
The Sixth Schedule creates autonomous district councils in parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Sixth Schedule give those councils specified legislative and judicial powers over listed local subjects. Each state’s holiday list applies in its council areas, and the councils add holidays of their own: in January 2021 the Principal Secretary of the Bodoland Territorial Council declared 27 January, the first anniversary of the Bodoland Territorial Region accord, a holiday for government and private offices and educational institutions in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri (Constitution of India, Sixth Schedule; Government of Assam, 2026 holiday notification; The Sentinel, 21 January 2021).
Recent administrative changes
Recent practice shows continuing adjustment through annual notifications rather than a single national reform. Assam published a new 2026 calendar containing state, community and restricted-holiday categories. Goa’s 2026 notification maintained separate public, special, restricted, commercial and industrial categories. Odisha changed its list during 2025 by withdrawing Panchayatiraj Dibasa and continued to issue district and constituency-specific notifications.
On 17 March 2026, the Supreme Court held that the declaration and classification of public holidays are executive policy matters and that India’s federal structure permits variation between states based on administrative and regional socio-cultural considerations. The judgment declined to require a uniform nationwide holiday policy (Supreme Court of India, judgment dated 17 March 2026).