Holiday list for companies in India: rules and policy guide

A holiday list for a company in India combines three layers: the national holidays (Republic Day on 26 January, Independence Day on 15 August and Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October), the festival holidays required by the state law that covers each location, and any extra or restricted holidays the company chooses to give. The minimum number and the rules for working on a holiday differ by state, so a company with offices in several states needs one calendar per state, published before the year starts.

This guide covers how to build and run that calendar: the legal sources, restricted and optional holidays, multi-state companies, what happens when an employee works on a holiday, and how to publish the list. It does not give a fixed date list, because festival dates move each year and each state notifies its own. For how holidays interact with leave balances, see our leave management guide, and for compensatory days off, see our comp off policy guide.

Which laws decide holidays for private companies?

There is no single all-India holiday law for private employers. The obligations come from the state, and from the type of establishment.

Source	What it typically covers	Who it applies to
State National and Festival Holidays Acts	Compulsory national holidays plus a set number of festival holidays, and pay for work on those days	Industrial and other establishments covered by the state Act; several states, such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, have such an Act
State Shops and Establishments Acts and rules	Holidays, weekly offs and sometimes festival holidays for shops, offices and commercial establishments	Most offices, IT and ITeS units, retail and services, depending on state
The OSH Code, 2020	Weekly holidays and compensatory holidays for workers in covered establishments	In force since 21 November 2025; state rules are still being notified in places
Standing orders and settlements	Holidays agreed for workmen in an industrial establishment	Where standing orders or a settlement apply
Central and state government holiday notifications	Gazetted holidays for government offices, and public holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act for banks	Mainly government and banks; private employers use them as a reference, not an obligation

Which Act covers a location depends on the establishment's registration and activity. Our guide to the Shops and Establishments Act explains registration. Check the current position with your state labour department or the Ministry of Labour and Employment, because several state Acts have been amended and the Labour Code rules are still settling.

Which holidays are compulsory?

National holidays

Republic Day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August) and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October) are compulsory paid holidays under almost every state law. Some states add May Day (1 May) as a compulsory holiday. Treat these as fixed in every calendar.

State festival holidays

On top of the national holidays, each state law requires a number of festival holidays. Common patterns:

• A state-specific day such as Maharashtra Day (1 May) in Maharashtra or Kannada Rajyotsava (1 November) in Karnataka.
• Major regional festivals such as Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Onam in Kerala, Durga Puja in West Bengal or Bihu in Assam.
• Festivals chosen by the employer, sometimes in consultation with employees or their representatives, from a list.

The number required, and whether the employer or the state picks them, differs from state to state. Do not copy one state's count to another. Many companies end up with 10 to 12 paid holidays in total in a year including the national holidays, but that is a market practice, not a legal figure.

What are restricted and optional holidays?

A restricted holiday (also called an optional or floating holiday) is a day the employee chooses from a published list, usually to cover festivals that matter to some employees but not all.

Feature	Typical design
Quota	1 to 3 restricted holidays a year
List	10 to 20 festivals across religions and regions, published with the calendar
Application	Applied for like leave, with manager approval
Unused days	Lapse at year end; not encashed or carried forward
Joiners	Prorated, or available only if the festival falls after joining
Work cover	Managers may limit how many people take the same restricted day

Restricted holidays are the fairest way to handle a diverse workforce. They let a Bengaluru office close for Kannada Rajyotsava, give a Christian employee Good Friday and a Parsi employee Navroz without closing the whole office. Keep restricted holidays separate from the statutory festival holidays, which everyone gets.

How should a multi-state company build its holiday calendar?

A company with a plant in Gujarat, a head office in Mumbai and a development centre in Chennai cannot run one list. The practical structure is a common core plus a state layer.

Layer	Example content	Same for all locations?
National core	26 January, 15 August, 2 October	Yes
Company core	Diwali, and other festivals the company closes for everywhere	Yes, if state law allows
State layer	Maharashtra Day for Mumbai; Pongal for Chennai; Uttarayan for Gujarat	No
Restricted list	Festivals across communities	Usually one list, with a common quota

Some practical rules:

• Map employees by work location, not by entity. A sales manager on the Mumbai entity's payroll who works from Pune follows the Maharashtra calendar; one based in Hyderabad follows Telangana's.
• Remote employees usually follow the state in which they are based, because that state's law applies to their place of work. Write this down for hybrid and remote staff.
• Plants and offices in the same state may need different lists if one is covered by a holidays Act for industrial establishments and the other by the Shops Act.
• Keep the number roughly equal across locations, so employees in one state do not feel short-changed.

What happens if an employee works on a holiday?

This depends on the state law and the employee's category, so settle it per location before the year starts.

• Many state holiday laws provide that an employee who works on a compulsory national or festival holiday is entitled to wages at a higher rate, often twice the ordinary rate, or to a substitute holiday with wages, as the Act specifies.
• Workers covered by the OSH Code who lose a weekly holiday are entitled to compensatory holidays, and statutory overtime rules apply to hours beyond the daily or weekly limits.
• Managerial staff outside these provisions usually receive a comp off under company policy.

Worked example: twice the wages for a holiday worked

An operator in a state whose Act provides twice the wages for holiday work earns a monthly gross of ₹26,000, paid on a 26-day basis. The daily rate is ₹26,000 ÷ 26 = ₹1,000.

• If "twice the wages" means twice the daily rate in total for that day, the employee receives ₹2,000 for the holiday. The ₹1,000 holiday pay is already in the monthly salary, so the additional payment is ₹1,000.
• If the Act means twice the daily rate in addition to normal holiday pay, the additional payment is ₹2,000.

The two readings differ by ₹1,000 a day per employee. For 150 operators on a festival day, that is ₹1,50,000. Read your state's Act, or take advice, and write the answer into the policy. Our overtime calculator helps with the hours side.

How and when should you publish the holiday calendar?

• Timing. Publish by November or December for a January to December leave year, or by February or March for an April to March year. Employees plan travel and festivals months ahead.
• Statutory display. Some state laws require the list of holidays to be displayed at the workplace, or notified to the labour authority within a set period. Check the requirement for each state.
• One source of truth. The calendar in the HR system must be the same one used for attendance, leave counting and payroll. A list in an email and a different one in the system cause wrong LOP and wrong leave debits.
• Changes. If a state declares an additional holiday mid-year, such as for an election, add it promptly and tell employees. Elections often carry a paid holiday or paid time off to vote under election law; follow the notification for the area.
• Leave interaction. State in the leave policy whether holidays inside a leave are counted as leave. Our guide to the sandwich leave rule covers the choices.

Holiday policy checklist

1. Identify the law that covers each location: holidays Act, Shops Act or both.
2. Fix the national core and confirm whether May Day is compulsory in each state.
3. Choose the festival holidays for each state within the legal count.
4. Draft the restricted holiday list and set the quota.
5. Decide the rule for work on a holiday: higher wages, substitute holiday or comp off, by category and state.
6. Load every calendar into the HR system and map employees by work location.
7. Publish the calendar and complete any statutory display or filing.
8. At year end, carry the same structure into the next year's calendar, which feeds your year-end leave process.

Common mistakes

• Running one company-wide list across states with different laws.
• Copying the government gazetted list and assuming it is what the law requires of a private employer.
• Mapping holidays by entity instead of work location, so remote and transferred staff get the wrong days.
• Treating restricted holidays as part of the statutory festival count.
• Paying holiday work as plain overtime without checking the state's holiday-work rule.
• Changing the calendar after payroll closes, so attendance and LOP no longer match.
• Publishing the list late, after employees have already booked travel.

FAQs

How many holidays are mandatory in India? It depends on the state. The three national holidays are compulsory almost everywhere, and each state law sets a number of festival holidays. Many companies give 10 to 12 paid holidays in total, but that is practice, not law.

Are national holidays mandatory for private companies? Yes, under almost every state law. Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti are compulsory paid holidays, and some states add May Day.

What is a restricted holiday? A holiday the employee chooses from a published list, usually 1 to 3 a year, to cover festivals that matter to some employees but not all. Unused restricted holidays usually lapse.

What is the pay for working on a national holiday? Many state laws provide twice the ordinary wages or a substitute holiday with wages. The exact rule depends on the state and the employee's category, so check the Act for each location.

Do employees in different states get different holidays? Yes. A multi-state company should run a calendar for each state, with a common national core and a state layer, and map employees by work location.

How NeevHR helps

NeevHR holiday calendars support company-wide and per-office calendars or named holiday schemes, with public, optional and restricted holidays, CSV import with a dry run, and self-service selection of restricted holidays within the quota. HR enters or imports each year's declared list rather than relying on a preloaded one. Leave and working-day counts use each employee's own holidays, attendance recomputes when holidays change, and holidays cannot be changed inside a period whose payroll is published. To see a multi-state calendar set up, book a demo.

This article provides general information for educational purposes. Statutory rules, thresholds, rates and filing requirements may change; verify with the relevant authority or a qualified professional. Last reviewed: 27 Oct 2026.