As Makar Sankranti approaches, many bank customers are asking whether January 14 will be a bank holiday in India. Understanding the banking holiday cycle is important for planning financial withdrawals, transfers, repayments, and other financial tasks during the festival. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues an official holiday list every year on which customers need to check whether their local bank will open on a specified festival day.
What Does the RBI Holiday List Say
The Reserve Bank of India releases a comprehensive holiday calendar each year. This calendar encompasses a list of national and regional bank holidays. Such lists feature holidays that apply to all public sector, private sector, and cooperative banks in India. The regional holidays that are observed are matched to local significance, state observances, or events of note. Makar Sankranti enjoys a significant stature with the festivals celebrated in many Indian states; thus, some states might witness bank closures on January 14.
States Where Banks Might Close
The Makara Sankranti festival means more than merely hunger to farming communities in various parts of India, including in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, North-East states, coastal states like Andhra and Telangana, to name a few. However, banking industry employees in these states take respite on the holiday following the state’s holiday list or RBI’s annual holiday list. The state-wise holiday list has names of even the public sector banks based in these states, which means that any festival follows a local application, a micro-culture of sorts, and, oh yes, cuts out the money-saving societal ambitions from becoming reality, which is not really that horrifying! Customers with accounts like to travel to these states and wish to visit for official purposes; here is a link to the specific holiday list that they should verify before planning their visit.
Bank Branches Open
Nevertheless, not all branches close on the Makara Sankranti festival because it carries regional holiday status. While some banks of various branches do consider this festival and hence remain closed for public service, other states where Sankranti is not a public holiday shall be open with normal business hours. Also, online banking, mobile banking, and ATMs serve customers as usual during the holidays. This administers uninterrupted banking transactions to access funds without hindrance.
How to Know Bank Holidays?
The customers may know whether their branch will be closed by taking a reference of holiday calendar issued by the RBI for the year 2026. Such bank holidays calendars are also often posted on the concerned bank’s portals or published in the local press. Furthermore, most branches tend to put up schmaltzy printed holiday lists on their doors prior to the commencement of festive seasons.
Think Ahead for Makar Sankranti
Plan ahead in case January 14 is a bank holiday in your area, which means doing any important banking activities beforehand, such as withdrawing cash, making deposits, forwarding clearance checks, or making scheduled payments, as you may be in a state of inconvenience. Planning ahead ensures that important financial transactions are not delayed during the festive period.
To recap, depending on the local gathering rules and the RBI holiday list, numerous banks are on holiday closure during Makar Sankranti on 14 January. Prior planning and understanding the true holiday calendar of banks will make transactions error-free over these days in selected parts of India.