Durga Puja, Dussehra bank holidays: Branches in several states to close between 17 and 23 October, says RBI list

Branches in a number of states will stay shut between 17 and 23 October on account of Durga Puja and Dussehra, so customers who need to visit a bank in the week ahead should look up the local holiday schedule first. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holiday calendar, as carried by Business Today and Outlook Money, lists Tuesday, 20 October (Dussehra) as a holiday for banks across most states.

Since the RBI notifies holidays state by state, the same date may be a working day for branches in one state and a closed day in another.

Bank closures still ahead this October

• 17 October (Saturday): Tripura, for Maha Saptami
• 19 October (Monday): Maha Ashtami/Maha Navami/Ayudha Puja/Durga Puja – states such as Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal
• 20 October (Tuesday): Dussehra/Vijaya Dashami – all states barring Sikkim and Manipur
• 21 October (Wednesday): Vijaya Dashami/Durga Puja (Dasain) – West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Sikkim and Tripura
• 22 and 23 October (Thursday and Friday): Sikkim, for Durga Puja (Dasain)
• 24 October (Saturday): all banks, being the fourth Saturday
• 26 October (Monday): Lakshmi Puja/Accession Day/Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti – Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Srinagar and Tripura
• 29 October (Thursday): Himachal Pradesh, for Karva Chauth
• 31 October (Saturday): Gujarat, marking the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Every Sunday is also a bank holiday, which leaves 18 and 25 October as the remaining Sundays this month. The two publications are not fully aligned on 19 October: Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland appear in Business Today’s list for that day but are absent from Outlook Money’s.

Closures already past

Both reports said that branches across the country shut for Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October, and again on 10 October, which was the month’s second Saturday, a date that was also a Mahalaya Amavasya holiday in Karnataka and Kolkata.

Online banking unaffected

According to both Business Today and Outlook Money, ATMs, UPI, mobile banking apps and net banking usually keep running when branches are closed. Work that requires going to a branch, including certain cheque-related tasks, locker access and documentation done in person, will have to wait until the following working day.

Before heading to a branch, customers should check with their bank or the RBI website whether the day is a holiday in their state.

Sources: Business Today, Outlook Money