India Govt Calendar 2026 — Central Government Holiday List

A Gazetted Holiday is a compulsory holiday notified by the Government of India in the official Gazette. All Central Government offices remain closed on these days. An employee cannot be called to work without a written order, and must be given compensatory off in lieu.

A Restricted Holiday is optional. Each Central Government employee may choose any two Restricted Holidays per calendar year from the DoPT-notified list, with prior intimation to the controlling authority. Unused RH cannot be carried forward or encashed — the entitlement lapses at the end of the year.

There are 18 Gazetted Holidays for Central Government employees in 2026: Republic Day (26 Jan), Holi (4 Mar), Id-ul-Fitr (Eid-ul-Fitr) (21 Mar), Ram Navami (26 Mar), Mahavir Jayanti (31 Mar), Good Friday (3 Apr), Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti (14 Apr), Buddha Purnima (1 May), Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid / Eid-ul-Adha) (28 May), Muharram (26 Jun), Independence Day (15 Aug), Milad-un-Nabi (Prophet's Birthday) (26 Aug), Janmashtami (Vaishnava) (4 Sep), Gandhi Jayanti (2 Oct), Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) (20 Oct), Diwali (Deepavali) (8 Nov), Guru Nanak's Birthday (24 Nov), Christmas Day (25 Dec). In addition, 28 Restricted Holidays are notified, of which each employee may avail two.

Republic Day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August) and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October). These three are compulsory for every establishment in the country, government and private alike, and no employer can require attendance on them.

No, not automatically. The DoPT list binds Central Government offices and Central PSUs only. Every State Government issues its own annual holiday notification, which usually includes additional regional and festival holidays. Only the three national holidays are common to all.

The concerned Ministry or Department notifies either the preceding Saturday or the following Monday as a compensatory holiday. This is set out in the annual DoPT holiday circular and is not discretionary.

Those dates depend on the actual sighting of the moon and can move by one or two days. The Government notifies a provisional date in advance and confirms it after sighting. Dates that can shift are marked with an asterisk on this calendar.