Andhra Pradesh Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Andhra Pradesh's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Andhra Pradesh shares most of its calendar with Telangana, both being Telugu-speaking states observing Ugadi, Sankranti and Vinayaka Chavithi, but the two diverged after the 2014 bifurcation and no longer align. Telangana declares Formation Day on June 2 and Bonalu in August; Andhra Pradesh declares its own Formation Day on November 1. Employers running offices in both Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam or Vijayawada need two separate calendars.

Andhra Pradesh also has a proportionally large Christian population, particularly in the coastal districts and the Rayalaseema region, which is why Good Friday and Christmas are firmly gazetted rather than treated as minor observances. The state's Muslim population, concentrated in Kurnool and the old Rayalaseema towns, gives the Islamic holidays real commercial weight too.

For payroll, commercial establishments fall under the Andhra Pradesh Shops and Establishments Act, 1988. The state issues its general and optional holiday notification through the General Administration Department each year. Since the capital function is still distributed across Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada, confirm which district notifications apply if you operate outside the main cities.

National Holidays in Andhra Pradesh

Republic Day on Monday, January 26 lands immediately after the Sankranti cluster, making January a heavily interrupted month. Independence Day on Saturday, August 15 falls on a weekend in 2026. Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, October 2 gives a clean long weekend just ahead of the Dasara period.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti on Tuesday, April 14 is a declared holiday across Andhra Pradesh, observed universally. It sits close to Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti on April 5, another social-reform anniversary on the optional list, so mid-April carries more significance in AP than the single gazetted day suggests.

Andhra Pradesh-Specific Holidays

Sankranti is the defining Andhra Pradesh festival and the reason January needs its own staffing plan. Bhogi falls on Wednesday January 14, Makara Sankranti on Thursday January 15, and Kanuma on Friday January 16. Bhogi and Sankranti are declared and Kanuma is optional, but in practice the whole week is written off. This is the largest annual migration within the state, with workers returning from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai to home districts across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Ugadi on Thursday, March 19 is the Telugu new year and marks the start of the Chaitra month. It shares its date with Karnataka's Ugadi and Maharashtra's Gudi Padwa in 2026, which is convenient for multi-state employers and one of the few dates where those three calendars align.

Sri Rama Navami on Friday, March 27 has a specific geography in Andhra Pradesh. The Sitarama Kalyanam at Bhadrachalam is the principal observance and draws very large crowds, with the state government formally participating. Travel into the Godavari districts that week is heavy.

Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on Sunday, November 1 marks the creation of the state in 1956. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday, so it yields no working day off, and it shares the date with Karnataka's Rajyotsava, which is a useful coincidence if you run offices in both states.

Vinayaka Chavithi on Monday, September 14 is observed with public pandals across coastal Andhra, particularly in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, though on a smaller scale than Maharashtra's Ganesh Chaturthi. It is a single declared day rather than the extended festival Mumbai runs.

Restricted Holidays in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh keeps a short optional list. For 2026 it covers Kanuma on Friday January 16 and Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti on Sunday April 5.

Kanuma does not behave like a normal optional day. It is the third day of Sankranti and is culturally continuous with Bhogi and Makara Sankranti rather than standing alone, so uptake among Telugu employees is close to universal. Treating January 14 to 16 as effectively closed is more realistic than assuming Kanuma will be worked.

Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti falls on a Sunday in 2026, which removes its practical value. That leaves Andhra Pradesh employees with very little optional-holiday flexibility this year, so additional time off around Sankranti or Dasara will come from earned leave.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Andhra Pradesh, 2026

The Andhra and Telangana divergence is the most common payroll error for employers in the region. The two states shared a calendar before 2014 and still overlap heavily, which makes the differences easy to miss: Telangana Formation Day on June 2 and Bonalu on August 10 are Telangana-only, while Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1 is AP-only. A single Telugu calendar applied to both will be wrong at least three times a year.

The Sankranti migration is a genuine capacity problem rather than a calendar entry. Employees travelling to home districts routinely extend the declared three days with earned leave on either side, and train and bus capacity out of Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai is exhausted weeks ahead. Plan mid-January delivery commitments on reduced headcount.

Andhra Pradesh observes Eid ul-Fitr on March 20 and Muharram on June 25, both a day ahead of Maharashtra and several northern states. Milad-un-Nabi on August 25 is similarly a day earlier than the August 26 observed elsewhere. These are legitimate local variations rather than errors, and a multi-state calendar must carry both dates rather than forcing one.

Engage HRMS keeps Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as distinct location calendars despite their overlap, so shared dates like Ugadi and Sankranti apply to both while Formation Day and Bonalu resolve correctly per site. Employees transferring between Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam pick up the right calendar automatically.