Bank Holidays 2024: It is the last day of November month, and also a Saturday. Banks in India have a unique structure of holidays during the weekend. Not all weekends are considered to be a bank holiday, but only two Saturdays and all Sundays. So are banks closed on November 30, 2024?

Saturday Bank Holiday:

As per the RBI guidelines, banks will be closed on two Saturdays of a month and opened on the rest of the Saturdays of the same month. In case, there are five Saturdays in a month, then banks will be opened on three Saturdays.

It is the second and fourth Saturdays of the month when banks are closed and open on the remaining Saturdays.

In November 2024, there are five Saturdays. The first Saturday was on November 2nd, and the third Saturday was on November 16, which is customary for banks to carry usual business. However, notably, November 30th is the fifth Saturday of this month, and hence banks are open and carrying business as usual.

The second and fourth Saturday of November month were on November 9th and 23rd.

Since it’s a full working day on Saturday, payment systems like Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), and 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)] – will be accessible.

The Banking Departments in Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank will remain open for the full day on working Saturdays as required to support the functioning of the Financial Markets and the Payment Systems. Government business will be transacted at agency banks on working Saturdays, as per RBI’s guidelines.

Overall, in November, banks have 10 special holidays in the month excluding second and fourth Saturdays and all Sundays.

Notably, bank holidays vary from state to state, so not all banks need to be closed on public holidays across India. But on national holidays like Independence Day, Republic Day, or Gandhi Jayanti, all banks are compulsorily closed across India irrespective of state or city. National holidays are generally fixed and practised by every state.

It is RBI that decides the holidays of Indian banks. Apart from second and fourth Saturdays, RBI identifies special occasions as holidays under three categories namely – Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act; Holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holidays; and Banks’ Closing of Accounts. These special holidays are in most cases public holidays and national holidays.