Bank Holidays 2025: Why Banks Will Be Closed For Four Days In A Row From March 13-16? City-Wise List!

Bank Holidays 2025: Banks are in for a long weekend as they will be closed for four consecutive days due to the celebration of the Holi festival and the second Saturday. These days start from March 13th to 16th. Notably, bank holidays vary from bank to bank, and are sometimes aligned with public holidays depending on the state. RBI decides the bank holiday list every month. If you are going to carry out financial transactions, check out the dates and city-wise list where banks are opened or closed.

RBI's holiday list for March 2025 comes under the category of Negotiable Instruments Act and Closing of Accounts. Here are the dates when banks will be closed for four consecutive days:

March 13:

Banks are closed on March 13 due to Holika Dahan/Attukal Pongala. Branches will be closed in cities like Dehradun, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ranchi, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Holika Dahan rendered Holika Dahanam in Sanskrit or Chotti Holi, is a Hindu festival in which a bonfire is lit to celebrate the burning of the demoness, Holika. This ritual is symbolic of the victory of good over evil.[3] It precedes Holi, the festival of colours, which celebrates the spring season. According to legend, Holika was the sister of Hiranyakashipu, who acquired a boon that rendered her invulnerable to fire. She then attempted to kill her nephew, Prahlada, by placing him on her lap in a bonfire. However, she was immolated while Prahlada was saved from the fire, as per Wikipedia.

March 14:

Banks will be closed in most cities on March 14 due to the celebration of the festival of colour, Holi. The cities where banks will be closed are Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Belapur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Gangtok, Guwahati, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Itanagar, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, and Srinagar.

Holi is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora, as per Wikipedia.

March 15:

March 15 falls as a second Saturday. 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.

March 16:

All Sundays are bank holidays for both public and private banks in India.

Bank holidays in India 2025, vary from state-to-state and city-to-city, though there are numerous Public Holidays in the year 2025 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.