Bank Holidays this month: Check full schedule for RBI-sanctioned Bank holidays in December

The Reserve Bank of India has announced a list of holidays for the month of December in 2021 in its annual list. According to this, all public and private sector banks in India will be closed for up to 12 days in December, including weekends. The RBI list specifies up to seven holidays throughout the month of December, including Christmas.

Christmas falls on a bank holiday on the fourth Saturday of the month. Due to the overlapping bank holidays, banks will be closed for 12 days this month. State-specific holidays, religious holidays, and festivals are all included in the RBI's list of holidays. Only a few bank branches in each state will be closed on certain days. They are usually not uniform in nature, except for a few days. 

Bank Holidays This Month: Check full schedule for Bank holidays in December 

On December 3, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier will be marked as a bank holiday in Goa, however, services will be available in other parts of the country. As a result, it is common for bank customers to be advised to contact their local branch for a complete list of bank holidays. The holidays in December have been designated by the RBI as a 'Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act.' Additional classifications for the RBI listing include 'Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act,' 'Real Time Gross Settlement Holiday,' and 'Banks' Closing of Accounts.' The other two groups, however, do not apply to this month due to the requirement of leaves. Banks across the country would have been closed even if Christmas does not fall on a weekend.

These include:

• Guwahati,
• Hyderabad,
• Imphal,
• Jaipur,
• Jammu,
• Kanpur,
• Kochi,
• Kolkata,
• Lucknow,
• Mumbai,
• Nagpur,
• New Delhi,
• Panaji,
• Patna,
• Raipur,
• Ranchi,
• Shillong,
• Shimla,
• Srinagar,
• Thiruvananthapuram

The majority of the bank holidays scheduled for this month under the holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act are for Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya. Shillong has four bank holidays in December, in addition to weekend leaves. The first holiday of the month under the same act falls on December 3, according to the RBI list, but it will only affect banks in Panaji. Banks will be closed on some weekend days. In this context, it's worth noting that the character of weekend leaves is consistent across India.

List of Leaves as per the Holiday Under Negotiable Instruments Act

• December 3: Feast of St. Francis Xavier — Goa
• December 18: Death Anniversary of U SoSo Tham — Shillong
• December 24: Christmas Festival (Christmas Eve) — Aizawl, Shillong
• December 25: Christmas — Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram
• December 27: Christmas Celebration — Aizawl
• December 30: U Kiang Nangbah — Shillong
• December 31: New Year’s Eve — Aizawl

Regular leaves:

• December 5: Sunday
• December 11: Second Saturday of the month
• December 12: Sunday
• December 19: Sunday
• December 25: Fourth Saturday of the month and Christmas
• December 26: Sunday

(IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK)