Bank Holidays 2024: Banks are up for a long weekend, with three-day back-to-back holidays starting from November 1 to November 3. Big auspicious occasions of Diwali such as Laxmi Pujan, Govardhan Pooja, and the onset of the new Hindu calendar year, Samvat 2081 have resulted in public, school and bank holidays. However, these bank holidays vary from city to city, hence, here is the list of places where banks are and will be closed from Friday to the weekend.
November 1, 2024:
Banks will be closed in some cities on November 1st, which is the occasion of Diwali Amavasya (Laxmi Pujan)/Deepawali/Kut/Kannada Rajyothsava.
The cities in which banks will be closed are - Agartala, Belapur, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Gangtok, Imphal, Jammu, Mumbai, Nagpur, Shillong, and Srinagar. In the rest of the cities, banks will be operational on Friday.
Lakshmi is believed to roam the earth on the night of the Lakshmi Puja. She searches for households where she will be welcomed, in which she will enter and spread prosperity and good fortune. On the evening of Lakshmi Puja, people open their doors and windows to welcome Lakshmi and place diya lights on their windowsills and balcony ledges to invite her in. During the days leading up to Diwali, people will clean, repair and decorate their homes to make them suitable for welcoming the goddess, as per Wikipedia.
November 2, 2024:
Banks will be closed on this day due to the celebration of Diwali (Bali Pratipada)/Balipadyami/Laxmi Puja (Deepawali)/Govardhan Pooja/Vikram Savant New Year Day.
This is the first Saturday of November 2024, and it is in general terms a working day for banks. However, because of the above-mentioned occasions, banks will be closed in cities like Ahmedabad, Belapur, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Gangtok, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Nagpur on Saturday.
Banks in the remaining cities are opened.
November 3, 2024:
All banks in India will be closed on November 3 since the day falls on Sunday which is a default bank holiday.
This is also the last day of the Diwali festival will be celebrated as Bhai Dooj.
It is the RBI that decides on bank holidays every year. The 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.
In general terms, banks are closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month in addition to the above-mentioned bank holidays. The fifth Saturday of a month with five Saturdays is a working day for banks. In the past, banks would only open for a half-day on Saturdays.