Bank Holiday, Janmashtami 2024: Are Banks Open On Monday, August 26?

Krishna Janmashtami is an annual Hindu festival, that celebrates the birth of Krishna who is said as the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu. In 2024, Janmashtami also said as Gokulashtami, is going to be celebrated on August 26, widely across India. Although, the festival will continue till August 27 as part of dahi handi. However, banks will be closed only on August 26, as per RBI's latest guidelines.

As per RBI's list of bank holidays in August 2024, banks in many cities will be closed on August 26 due to the celebration of Janmashtami (Shravan Vad-8)/Krishna Jayanthi.

The cities where banks will be closed on Monday are - Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Gangtok, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, and Srinagar.

While banks will be opened in cities like Agartala, Aizawl, Belapur, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar, Kochi, Kohima, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Data from RBI showed that August 26 is also the last festival holiday of the current month.

This is also an extended long weekend for banks since they were also closed on August 24th due to the day being a fourth Saturday, while Sunday, August 25, is a default holiday.

In the current month, banks have holidays for a total of 13 days including the second and fourth Saturdays and four Sundays of the month.

There are five Saturdays in the current month, hence banks are closed on August 10th and 24th, while it will be operation on August 31 which is the last Saturday of August. Meanwhile, banks are closed on four Sundays which are August 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th.

Apart from Janmashtami, banks were also closed on August 3rd due to Ker Puja, on August 8th for Tendong Lho Rum Faat, August 13 for Patriot's Day, on August 15 for Independence Day/Parsi New Year (Shahenshahi), on August 19 for Raksha Bandhan, and on August 20 for Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi.

RBI's holidays are divided into three categories such as -- Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act; Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holidays; and Banks' Closing of Accounts.

Bank holidays in India 2024, vary from state-to-state and city-to-city.

However, while bank branches are closed in cities during holidays, ATM services are fully operational.

Digitalisation has made it very easy to carry out banking transactions through mobile phones, ATMs, and the Internet. However, there are still several reasons to visit banks' branches such as transactions related to high amounts beyond maximum limits, foreign exchange transactions, queries and procedures related to accounts in other banks, loan closure or payments, and guidance or help related to bank accounts among others.

Thereby, check out the list of cities where banks are opened and closed on August 26, before planning your visit to bank branches for financial transactions.