Bank holiday today: Banks are closed in several cities in the country on 1 May for Labour Day, Maharashtra Day and Buddha Purnima. Check the RBI city-wise holiday list before visiting branches.
Are banks closed on Labour Day 2026? There is confusion among bank customers as to whether banks across India will remain open or closed on 1 May, Labour Day 2026. Here’s what you need to know:
Is the bank closed on Labour Day 2026? Labour Day, celebrated annually on 1 May to honour workers and the labour movement that took root in the late 19th century, falls on a Friday this year, which is today. The overlap with a regular working day has led to confusion among bank customers about whether branches will remain open or closed across India.
As per the RBI holiday calendar, banks are closed in several major cities across India today, while remaining open in select locations due to state-specific observances.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) releases its official holiday list every year, outlining bank holidays across cities while excluding the second and fourth Saturdays. The calendar is prepared with national and state-specific public holidays in mind.
For May 2026, six public holidays have been listed in the RBI Holiday Calendar. On these days, branches of both public and private sector banks will remain closed in the notified regions.
1 May is also observed as Maharashtra Day or Maharashtra Diwas, marking the formation of the state of Maharashtra. The day coincides with multiple observances, including Buddha Purnima, May Day (Labour Day), and the birth anniversary of Pandit Raghunath Murmu. Due to these occasions, banks remain closed in several states. However, apart from these notified regions, bank branches continue to operate normally across the rest of the country on 1 May 2026.
RBI Bank Holiday Calendar 2026: Will banks remain closed on 1 May in your city?
According to the RBI holiday calendar, banks are closed in 27 cities across India, including Agartala, Aizawl, Belapur, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Dehradun, Gangtok, Hyderabad, Imphal, Itanagar, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram and Vijayawada.
However, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kohima and Shillong will have their branches open on the same day, according to the RBI Holiday List 2026. This variation is due to state-specific observances, as Labour Day is not uniformly recognised as a bank holiday across all regions.
Full List of Bank Holidays in May 2026: Check important dates before planning your visit
Additionally, banks will be closed for 11 more days in May, including five Sundays and the second and fourth Saturdays. Therefore, customers planning to visit a bank branch are advised to check the RBI’s holiday list before scheduling any transactions.
Key bank holidays in May 2026
May 1: Labour Day, Maharashtra Day, Buddha Purnima
May 9: Second Saturday + Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti
May 16: Sikkim State Day
May 23: Fourth Saturday
May 26: Kazi Nazrul Islam Jayanti
May 27: Bakrid / Eid-ul-Adha
May 28: Bakrid
Sundays: May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Bank branch closed in your city? Online banking, ATM and UPI services to remain fully operational
Physical branches will remain closed during the above-mentioned days, but customers can continue using online services such as internet banking, mobile apps and UPI. ATM services will also remain available without interruption, except in rare cases of scheduled maintenance.
