On August 19, Muharram (Ashoora), lenders in 17 cities will have an off. On August 30, banks in 15 cities will have off. The rest of the leaves are scattered.
Bank Holidays in the month of August are littered across the calendar days according to the official list released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). As per the official list of holidays put out by the RBI and considering the weekends off on the calendar, the total number of days add up to 15 days off. From this list of 15 leaves, lenders will be able to observe eight days as state-wise leaves, religious holidays or festivals. The other seven days are weekend leaves, including the second and fourth Saturday of the month and Sundays. The RBI has released these Bank holidays for August under one of three main categories. In general, these three categories are the ‘Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act’, ‘Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act and Real-Time Gross Settlement Holiday’ and ‘Banks’ Closing of Accounts’.
The list of 15 leaves come under the ‘Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act’. These holidays start on August 13 and end on August 31. Quite a few of the holidays are back-to-back. However, given that it is state-wise, and only some states celebrate these holidays at any given time, it makes it more spread out. Not all holidays apply to all the states or cities at the same time.
It is notable that even though the official list does not start till August 13, the holidays, in fact, start on August 1, as it is the first Sunday of the month. Only two days from the entire list of RBI bank leaves applies to a vast majority of states. One holiday is on August 19 and the other is on August 30. On August 19, Muharram (Ashoora) will take place in Agartala, Ahmedabad, Belapur, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi and Srinagar. This holiday will see 17 cities in which lenders take leave on this day.
On August 30, Janmashtami (Shravan Vad-8) or Krishna Jayanthi, is the occasion. It will apply to lenders across 15 different cities. These cities include Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Lucknow, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Srinagar and Gangtok. Apart from these two days, the rest of the bank holidays are spread out more and hence bank customers will not have to worry too much, however, some planning is advised before you step out.
Here is the full list of holidays for the month of August 2021, as per RBI mandate:
1) August 1, 2021 – Sunday
2) August 8, 2021 – Sunday
3) August 14, 2021 – Second Saturday
4) August 13, 2021 – Patriot’s Day (Imphal)
5) August 15, 2021 – Sunday
6) August 16, 2021 – Parse New Year (Shahenshahi) / (Belapur, Mumbai and Nagpur)
7) August 19, 2021 – Muharram (Ashoora) / (Agartala, Ahmedabad, Belapur, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi and Srinagar)
8) August 20, 2021 – Muharram/First Onam (Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)
9) August 21, 2021 – Thiruvonam (Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi)
10) August 22, 2021 – Sunday
11) August 23, 2021 – Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi (Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi)
12) August 28, 2021 – Fourth Saturday
13) August 29, 2021 – Sunday
14) August 30, 2021 – Janmashtami (Shravan Vad-8)/Krishna Jayanthi (Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Lucknow, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Srinagar and Gangtok)
15) August 31, 2021 – Sri Krishna Ashtami (Hyderabad)
