Bank Holidays 2025: Why Banks Are Closed For 4 Days From July 5-13? Guru Hargobind Birthday To Second Saturday

Indian banks will be closed for three days from July 5th to July 13th due to a host of occasions. Starting on July 5th, banks will be closed in certain regions of India as the sikh community will celebrate Guru Hargobind Ji's Birthday. Further, next week, banks will be closed for the second Saturday alongside their defaulted Sunday holidays.

Bank Holiday On July 5:

As per RBI's list, banks will be closed on Saturday, July 5th due to celebration of Guru Hargobind Ji's Birthday. However, this holiday is applicable in cities like Jammu and Srinagar. In the other cities, banks will operate as normal working hours.

Bank Holiday On July 6:

July 6th is a Sunday and hence all banks in India will be closed mandatorily.

Banks will be open on July 7th, July 8th, July 9th, July 10th, and July 11th.

Bank Holiday On July 12:

This day falls as a second Saturday, which is a bank holiday. Hence, all banks will be closed on July 12.

Bank Holiday On July 13:

July 13th is yet another Sunday, and a defaulted weekend holiday for all banks.

Guru Hargobind Ji's Birthday 2025:

Guru Hargobind (born 1595, Wadali, India-died 1644, Kiratpur, near the Himalayas) was the sixth Sikh Guru (1606-44), who developed a strong Sikh army and gave the Sikh religion its military character, in accord with the instructions of his father, Guru Arjan, the first Sikh martyr, who had been executed on the order of the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr. The Sikhs under Guru Hargobind defeated Shāh Jahān's armies four times, crushing the myth of Mughal invincibility. To the Sikh ideals of his predecessor, Guru Hargobind thus added another: the right and duty of the Sikhs to defend their faith by the sword if necessary. Shortly before his death, Guru Hargobind named his grandson, Har Rai, as his successor, as per Britannica.

Second Saturday Bank Holiday:

With effect from September 1, 2015, RBI has allowed all scheduled and non-scheduled banks - public, private, foreign, cooperative, regional rural and local area banks to observe public holiday on second and fourth Saturdays.

Hence, payment systems will not be operated on second and fourth Saturdays but would operate for full day on working Saturdays. Payment systems typically includes Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Cheque Clearing operated by various Bankers' Clearing Houses in the country including the grid based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) and ECS suite [Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), Regional Electronic Clearing Service (RECS) and National Electronic Clearing Service (NECS)].