Bank Holiday On Christmas: Is December 25 A Bank Holiday In India? Check City-Wise List

Bank Holiday: Christmas is being celebrated widely in India on December 25, 2024. That being said, Christmas is a public holiday identified by the majority of states. Does that mean December 25th is also a bank holiday in India? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decides holidays for scheduled commercial banks.

As per RBI's latest list, December 25 is a bank holiday across India. Hence, banks in cities like Agartala, Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Belapur, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Gangtok, Guwahati, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Imphal, Itanagar, Jammu, Jaipur, Kochi, Kanpur, Kohima, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Shillong, Thiruvananthapuram, and Srinagar will be closed on Wednesday.

Both private and public banks will be closed.

Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas ("mass on Christ's day") is of fairly recent origin. Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays a pivotal role, as per Britannica report.

Bank holidays in India and for that matter, the public holidays are decided by the central government, the state government and the various union territories in the country. As per RBI, bank holidays are divided into three categories. These are holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act; holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holidays; and banks' closing of accounts.

Notably, Bank holidays in India, vary from state to state and city to city, though there are numerous Public Holidays in the year 2024 which are applicable throughout the country. Some of these holidays include Republic Day (Jan 26), Independence Day (Aug 15) and Gandhi Jayanti (Oct 2). Apart from these, there are important religious and festival holidays such as Diwali, Dussehra, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanthi, Good Friday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Budh Purnima etc.

What is closed during bank holidays? Visit to branches is not possible during bank holidays. Also, payment services or cash deposits or large transactions that require you to visit branches, will not be accessible.

What Is Opened? Services like ATMs, internet banking, and mobile banking are accessible irrespective of bank holidays.