Bank Holidays in September 2021: The RBI mandated leaves remaining are Indrajatra, on September 20 and Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi Day, on September 21.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier came out with a list of holidays like it does for every calendar month. As per the RBI list of bank holidays, the month of September originally had a total of 12 holidays. The count was divided into two broad categories, one is the weekend leaves such as second and fourth Saturdays as well as Sundays; the other of course is the officially mandated RBI holidays for lenders across the nation. Right out the gate, there were around six days of weekend leaves that banks were given for this month. On the other hand, the number of RBI listed holidays were coming up to 7 days of leave. The reason that the count stood at 12 days in total was due to the fact that the second Saturday of the month and one of the RBI mandated leaves overlapped.
The RBI’s list of holidays falls into the categories of state-wise celebrations, religious holidays and festival celebrations. If one were to consider the official classifications that the RBI has laid out, then the list of holidays comes under the bracket of ‘Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act’. The other classifications for the RBI listing are ‘Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holiday’ and ‘Banks’ Closing of Accounts’. The other two classifications do not apply to next month’s bank holidays.
The holidays that were issued by the RBI was officially set to start on September 8, 2021. However, with the consideration of the weekend leaves as well, the first leave of the month for banks in India fell on September 5, which was the first Sunday of the month. For that date, banks across India had an off, as is the norm. As the month has progressed, the number of holidays has significantly reduced as they have come and gone, leaving all but five bank holidays for the rest of the month. What remains now for the last weeks of September is two RBI mandated holidays and three weekend leaves.
The RBI mandated leaves remaining are Indrajatra, which is a holiday for banks in Gangtok on September 20 and Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi Day, which is a leave for lenders in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram on September 21. As far as weekend leaves are concerned, they are September 19 (Sunday), September 25 (Fourth Saturday) and September 26 (Sunday).
On that note, keep in mind that none of the leaves on the RBI’s list is uniform in nature, nor do they apply to all the banks across India at the same time. It all depends on which state has been allocated a particular date as the day of celebration. No other city in any other state will have an off for that particular day.
There was one holiday this month that was of significance as it was one of the most widely celebrated and an off for a large majority of banks. On September 10, a total of 9 cities across different states will be celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi/Samvatsari (Chaturthi Paksha)/Vinayakar Chathurthi/Varasiddhi Vinayaka Vrata. The locations where banks will have an off for this holiday are Ahmedabad, Belapur, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Panaji.
The following day was the second day of Ganesh Chaturthi but that was only applicable for banks in Panaji according to the RBI. Therefore, it would serve you well as a bank goer to keep these dates in mind going forward into the month. Make sure to plan your next trip to the bank carefully in order to ensure a smooth process for your banking needs.
Here is the full list of holidays for the month of September 2021, as per RBI mandate: (Counting from September 18 onwards)
1) September 19 – Sunday
2) September 20 – Indrajatra – (Gangtok)
3) September 21 – Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi Day – (Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)
4) September 25 – Fourth Saturday
5) September 26 – Sunday
