Banks to stay open through Navratri week; only Agartala has a holiday between Oct 12 and 18
Banks will work as usual across most cities from October 12 to 18, with branches closed only in Agartala on October 17 for Maha Saptami, per the RBI holiday list.
Images are not validated/verified
With Sharadiya Navratri and Durgotsav under way across the country, many people are wondering whether banks will be open or closed during the festival days. Customers of large banks such as State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC, ICICI and Punjab National Bank (PNB) are especially keen to know. Here is the position for this week, according to the official list of holidays issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Banks across the country will not be shut for these seven days of Navratri, from October 12 to 18. There is no national or nationwide festival this week that would mean a continuous holiday. Under RBI rules, banks in most cities will function as usual between October 12 and 18 and work will remain normal.
Only one day of bank closure has been officially listed for the whole period. On October 17, on the occasion of Maha Saptami, bank branches will remain closed in Agartala, Tripura. Banking will not be affected in any other part of the country, and banks will remain open for the full day in all major cities.
Looking ahead to the rest of October, several days will be holidays in different states for festivals during the next phase of Durga Puja and Navratri, in the middle and at the end of the month. According to the RBI list, the main holidays are as follows.
On October 17, banks will be closed in Tripura for Maha Saptami. On October 19, banks will be closed in Tripura, Mizoram, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Meghalaya for Dussehra (Maha Ashtami), Maha Navami, Ayudha Puja, Durga Puja, Vijayadashami and Durga Ashtami.
On October 20, banking work will remain suspended in Tripura, Gujarat, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Assam, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, West Bengal, Delhi, Goa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for Dussehra (Vijayadashami), Maha Navami, Ayudha Puja and Durga Puja.
On October 21, banks will be closed in Tripura, Karnataka, Sikkim, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Thiruvananthapuram for Vijayadashami and Durga Puja (Dasain). On October 22 and 23, banks will be closed in Sikkim for Durga Puja (Dasain). On October 26, banks will be closed in Tripura for Lakshmi Puja, Accession Day and Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti. On October 29, banks will not open in Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh for Karva Chauth. On October 31, banking work will remain suspended in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Jayanti.
If banks are closed in your city, or you want to transact on a holiday, there is no cause for worry. Even when branches are shut, digital services run round the clock as usual. Through UPI, net banking and mobile banking, you can send money and pay various bills at any time. ATMs work day and night for cash withdrawals. Under RBI rules, RTGS is available 24 hours a day on all 365 days of the year, including festivals and holidays.
However, for tasks that require a visit to a bank branch, such as submitting certain special papers or physical documents, customers will have to wait until the holidays end and banks reopen.
