Gujarat Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Gujarat's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Gujarat's holiday calendar is dominated by one thing: the Diwali and Gujarati New Year period. Unlike most of India, where Diwali is a two or three day affair, Gujarat treats it as the turn of the financial and cultural year. Businesses close, the Vikram Samvat calendar rolls over at Bestu Varas, and account books are formally opened afresh. Trying to run normal operations through that week is not realistic.

The state's business culture also shapes how holidays are used. Gujarat has a very high proportion of family-owned trading and manufacturing businesses, and the Jain and Vaishnav communities are commercially prominent. That gives dates like Samvatsari and Mahavir Janma Kalyanak far more operational weight here than their status as single declared days suggests.

For payroll, commercial establishments fall under the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019, with factories governed separately under the Factories Act. The state issues its holiday notification through the General Administration Department each year.

National Holidays in Gujarat

Gujarat observes the three national days on Monday, January 26, Saturday, August 15 and Friday, October 2. Only four gazetted dates fall on a weekend here in 2026, and Independence Day is one of them, alongside Maha Shivratri, Eid ul-Fitr and Diwali.

Gandhi Jayanti carries additional weight in Gujarat because Porbandar is Gandhi's birthplace and Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad is the principal site associated with him. Observance is more visible here than elsewhere, with official functions at both locations, and a dry day is enforced statewide, though Gujarat is a dry state year-round in any case.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti is gazetted on Tuesday, April 14. It falls two weeks into the financial year, which for Gujarat's trading businesses is a period already busy with new-year account setup.

Gujarat-Specific Holidays

Uttarayan, or Makar Sankranti, on Wednesday, January 14 is Gujarat's most distinctive festival. The kite flying is not incidental. Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara effectively shut down, rooftops fill from dawn, and the following day is widely taken as leave even though it is not declared. Treat January 14 and 15 as a two-day loss regardless of what the notification says.

The Diwali stretch is the heaviest period of the Gujarat year. Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8, Bestu Varas, the Gujarati New Year, on Tuesday, November 10, and Bhai Bij on Wednesday, November 11, with Dhanteras on Friday, November 6 as an optional day. Most Gujarati businesses close from Dhanteras through Bhai Bij, a full week, and reopen with a muhurat ceremony. Planning around this rather than through it is the only workable approach.

Rath Yatra on Thursday, July 16 is an Ahmedabad-specific closure. The Jagannath temple procession moves through the old city under heavy security, and roads across central Ahmedabad are closed. Even businesses outside the route find staff cannot travel.

Gujarat Day on May 1 marks the state's formation in 1960, the same separation from Bombay State that created Maharashtra Day. In 2026 it coincides with Buddha Purnima, so the two declared holidays collapse onto a single Friday.

Samvatsari on Tuesday, September 15 is the concluding day of the Jain Paryushan festival and a declared holiday. Given the commercial prominence of Gujarat's Jain community, a significant proportion of trading businesses observe the full eight-day Paryushan period with reduced activity, not just the declared day.

Restricted Holidays in Gujarat

Gujarat's optional list for 2026 covers Shab-e-Barat on February 4, Easter Saturday on April 4, Parsi New Year on August 16, and Dhanteras on November 6. Employees typically select a limited number with advance approval.

Dhanteras is the one that behaves unlike a normal restricted day. It opens the Diwali period and is considered auspicious for purchases, particularly of gold and business equipment. Uptake is very high across Gujarati staff, and since most businesses are winding down for Diwali anyway, treating it as a working day is often theoretical.

Parsi New Year matters disproportionately in Surat and Navsari, which have long-established Parsi communities. It falls on a Sunday in 2026, so it yields no working day off, which is worth flagging in advance to staff who would otherwise have used a restricted day on it.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Gujarat, 2026

The Diwali shutdown is the defining Gujarat payroll consideration. Many Gujarati businesses close for a full week and pay annual bonuses before Dhanteras. If your salary or bonus run is scheduled for early November, it needs to clear before Friday, November 6 rather than after, since banks and staff will both be unavailable through the following week.

Gujarat's financial year convention adds a wrinkle. Traditional Gujarati businesses close their books at Diwali under the Vikram Samvat calendar while filing statutory returns on the April to March financial year. If you employ accounting staff drawn from that background, expect the Diwali period to carry genuine workload before the shutdown, not just afterwards.

Uttarayan in January is systematically underestimated by employers new to the state. The declared holiday is one day, January 14, but attendance on January 15 is poor and productivity in the surrounding days is low. Building a second day into the calendar is more honest than fighting the leave requests.

Engage HRMS lets you configure a company shutdown period distinct from individual declared holidays, which fits the Gujarat Diwali pattern better than listing each day separately. Leave balances, attendance, and payroll all calculate correctly across the closure without manual adjustment for each employee.