India’s Public Holidays in 2018

February 8, 2018 Posted by India Briefing Written by Dezan Shira & Associates Reading Time: 2 minutes

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

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.

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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

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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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