Eid Ul Fitr 2026: RBI Lists Bank Holidays in March as Students and Employees See 10 Days Off
Calendars for March 2026 show overlapping schedules that matter to both households and financial customers: student and government payroll calendars list 10 holidays for the month, while the Reserve Bank of India has issued an 11-day bank-holiday schedule that will affect branch access. The alignment of festival dates, including eid ul fitr 2026 and Ram Navami, means customers and institutions must plan for branch closures and continued reliance on digital channels.
Students and government employees: 10 holidays in March
Education and government calendars assign a total of 10 holidays in March 2026. That tally reflects five Sundays in the month, a scheduled holiday on March 14 for the second Saturday, and specific festival days: Holi (listed on March 4 in one calendar), Ugadi on March 19, a crescent-moon-dependent holiday for Ramzan on March 20, Sri Rama Navami on March 26, and an optional observance for Mahavir Jayanti on March 31. The five-Sundays count is a direct contributor to the overall total for students and government workers.
Reserve Bank of India schedule and bank closures
The Reserve Bank of India has released a comprehensive list that shows 11 official bank holidays for March 2026. The RBI list reflects national and regional observances aligned with the Negotiable Instruments Act and notes that banks will be officially shut on those declared days. At the same time, the RBI emphasises that digital banking infrastructure will keep transactions moving.
Eid Ul Fitr 2026 and moon sighting
Eid Ul Fitr 2026 is placed in the mid-March cluster of observances: the RBI calendar and other schedules identify Eid-ul-Fitr on March 20 or 21, dependent on the sighting of the crescent moon. For clarity in consumer planning, eid ul fitr 2026 appears with a variable date — the religious timing determines whether it falls on March 20 or March 21 — which also affects when banks will observe closure days tied to the festival.
Holi dates and weekend closures
Holi appears in multiple entries across calendars: some schedules list Holi on March 3 and March 4, while others place it on March 3 alone. Banks will also be closed on all Sundays (March 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29) and on the second and fourth Saturdays (March 14 and March 28). When those weekly closures are counted alongside declared holidays, one calendar compilation brings the total number of non-working bank days in March to 18.
Agency Banks, March 31 and the fiscal-year close
In a targeted operational move, the RBI has instructed Agency Banks to remain open on March 31 despite that date being observed as Mahavir Jayanti in many regions. The directive aims to facilitate the closing of government accounts for the 2025–26 fiscal year; branches that handle government receipts, payments and tax collections will maintain regular operations on that day. This decision separates agency functions from general branch availability and is intended to prevent administrative bottlenecks at fiscal year end.
State observances and customer actions in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Regional festival closures figure prominently: Gudhi Padwa (Gudi Padwar) and Ugadi on March 19 will prompt bank closures in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The RBI notice advises customers to plan branch visits early to avoid delays in cheque clearances and document submissions. To minimise inconvenience, the central bank and banking schedules highlight that digital services — UPI, IMPS, ATMs, mobile banking apps, net banking and NEFT — will remain operational, while physical services such as locker access, demand draft issuance and manual passbook updates will resume only on the next working day.
What makes this notable is the mid-month convergence of several major religious observances and end-of-quarter administrative deadlines, creating a compressed window in which digital channels must absorb routine branch activity and government-facing operations must be kept open to conclude the fiscal year.
