What does gazetted holiday mean?

A gazetted holiday is a public holiday formally declared by the central or a state government, on which government offices close and staff get paid leave. It differs from a restricted holiday, which is optional and picked by each employee from a separate list.

What is the difference between a gazetted holiday and a restricted holiday?

A gazetted, or closed, holiday applies to everyone, and the office shuts for the day. A restricted holiday is optional: the government publishes a list, and each employee chooses a limited number of days from it to take off, while the office stays open.

How many gazetted holidays are there in India in 2026?

Central government offices observe 17 closed holidays in 2026: 14 compulsory holidays set by the Ministry of Personnel plus three chosen locally from an optional list. State governments, banks and private employers follow their own lists, so the number varies by state and sector.

What Is Gazetted Holiday in India?

Definition

A gazetted holiday in India is a public holiday that the central or a state government formally notifies, so government offices close and staff get the day off with pay. For central government offices, the Ministry of Personnel issues the list each year, and these days are also called closed holidays.

What gazetted holiday means

The word gazetted refers to the official notification: the government has formally declared the day a holiday, so its offices shut. A gazetted holiday is different from a restricted holiday, which is optional and chosen by each employee from a separate list while the office stays open.

For central government offices, the list comes from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. It has 14 compulsory holidays, including the three national holidays: Republic Day on 26 January, Independence Day on 15 August and Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday on 2 October. A coordination committee of central government employees in each state capital then picks three more from a list of optional holidays, which is why the final list differs from state to state.

Holiday-heavy months make live interview slots hard to find. With springhire's one-way video interviews, candidates record answers when it suits them, and AI transcribes and ranks the responses.

How many gazetted holidays there are in 2026

In 2026, central government offices observe 17 closed holidays: the 14 compulsory days plus three chosen locally. The 2026 list published by the Comptroller and Auditor General's Delhi office includes Holi, Id-ul-Fitr, Janmashtami, Dussehra, Diwali and Christmas Day among its 17 dates, while central offices in Kerala include Onam instead. Festival dates that depend on the moon can move late: in May 2026, central offices in Delhi moved the Id-ul-Zuha holiday from 27 May to 28 May.

Banks follow their own calendar. The Reserve Bank of India publishes holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act state by state, so a bank branch can be closed on a day your local government office is open.

Do private employers have to follow gazetted holidays?

Not automatically. The central list binds central government offices. Private employers take their holiday obligations from state law, usually the state's Shops and Establishments Act or a national and festival holidays law, which sets a minimum number of paid holidays and what an employer owes when someone works on one. Many companies publish an annual calendar that mirrors the gazetted list for their state, but the legal minimum comes from state law.

If your team spans several states, check the rule in each one, because two offices of the same company can have different holidays on the same date.

Common mistakes

HR teams often copy the Delhi central government list for offices in other states, which misses regional festivals and may fall short of state rules. Another error is treating a restricted holiday as a closed one. Publish the calendar early, update it when governments announce date changes, and record any substitute day off or extra pay given for holiday work.