Bank Holidays 2024: Banks Will Be Closed For Three Days From December 9-15; Check the City-Wise List

Bank Holidays 2024: Indian banks will have a holiday-shortened working week from December 9-15. Banks will most likely be closed for three days this week. However, bank holidays vary from state to state and city-to-city. It is RBI that decides bank holidays every year.

December 9th, 10th, 11th:

Banks across India will be opened during these three days.

December 12:

Banks in Shillong City will be closed on December 12 due to Pa-Togan Nengminja Sangma.

Pa Togan Sangma also known as Togan Sangma or Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma was a giant Garo tribe (A.chik Tribe) leader from Garo hills in North East India. Pa Togan Nengminja was a freedom fighter who fought against the Britishers (Gipok jat in the Garo Language) with other A.chik warriors (Matgriks) who attacked the British soldiers while they were sleeping. Today, there is a statue built in his memorial for his bravery at Chisobibra, East Garo Hills, Meghalaya, as per Wikipedia.

December 13:

Banks will be open on this day as there are no special events or public holidays.

December 14:

Banks will be closed across India as December 14th is the second Saturday of the month. In general terms, as per RBI's guidelines, all scheduled and non-scheduled banks - public, private, foreign, cooperative, regional rural and local area banks - will observe public holidays on second and fourth Saturdays from September 01, 2015; and will observe full working days on Saturdays other than second and fourth Saturdays.

Since it's a second Saturday, payment systems like Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), and Cheque Clearing operated by various Bankers' Clearing Houses in the country including the grid-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) and ECS suite [Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), Regional Electronic Clearing Service (RECS) and National Electronic Clearing Service (NECS)] - will not be accessible.

Last month, as per the PTI report, the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) demanded a long pending implementation of a 5-day work week for bank employees. Besides, the bank officers union pressed for recruitment at public sector banks to address staff shortages.

December 15:

This day is a Sunday which is a default holiday for all banks.

Apart from second and fourth Saturdays, RBI identifies special occasions as holidays under three categories namely - Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act; Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holidays; and Banks' Closing of Accounts. These special holidays are in most cases public holidays and national holidays.

Notably, bank holidays vary from state to state, so not all banks need to be closed on public holidays across India. But on national holidays like Independence Day, Republic Day, or Gandhi Jayanti, all banks are compulsorily closed across India irrespective of state or city. National holidays are generally fixed and practised by every state.