India holidays 2026

India observes three national (gazetted) holidays every year — Republic Day on 26 January, Independence Day on 15 August and Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October. Beyond these, each state notifies its own list of gazetted and restricted holidays covering major festivals like Holi, Eid, Diwali, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti and regional new years, so a typical 2026 calendar has 15–20 holidays depending on the state and sector.

Diwali (Deepavali), the festival of lights, falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Dhanteras is on 6 November and Bhai Dooj on 10 November, giving the festival week its usual five-day rhythm.

Holi is on Wednesday, 4 March 2026, with Holika Dahan on the evening of 3 March. Many states observe a public holiday on the day of Holi itself.

Long-weekend planners will want to note Republic Day (Monday, 26 January), Holi (Wednesday, 4 March), Independence Day (Saturday, 15 August), Gandhi Jayanti (Friday, 2 October) and Diwali (Sunday, 8 November). A quick check on our countdown pages shows the weekday for every date at a glance.

Use the Working Days calculator — it counts business days between any two dates and automatically excludes weekends plus the major Indian national holidays (Republic Day, Holi, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Diwali). Handy for leave planning, notice periods and project timelines.

Most Indian festivals follow the lunar or luni-solar calendar, so their Gregorian date shifts by 10–11 days each year. A few (like Makar Sankranti or Republic Day) are fixed to the solar/civil calendar and stay on the same date. Moon-sighting festivals like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha can shift by a day between regions — worth a local check closer to the time.