Kerala Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Kerala's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Kerala declares 22 public holidays for public offices under the Government of Kerala in 2026, by G.O. (P) No. 14/2025/GAD dated 31 October 2025, published in Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No. 3845. All Sundays and the second Saturday of every English month are separately declared closed holidays, which is the part of the Kerala calendar most often missed by employers coming from other states.

A companion notification of the same date, G.O. (P) No. 15/2025/GAD in Gazette No. 3846, declares 20 days as public holidays under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. It is not the same list. Muharram on 25 June, Karkadaka Vavu on 12 August and Third Onam on 27 August close government offices but are not Negotiable Instruments Act holidays, while 1 April, the annual closing of accounts of commercial and co-operative banks, is on the banking list and not on the office list.

Kerala's religious composition shows in the declared list. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are both public holidays, which almost no other state grants, alongside Id-ul-Fitr, Bakrid, Muharram and Milad-i-Sherif, the four Onam days, and the Sree Narayana Guru and Ayyankali commemorations that anchor the state's social reform history.

Private employers should note that the GAD list governs government offices. Establishments under the Industrial Disputes Act, the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act and the Minimum Wages Act are governed instead by the Kerala Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Act, 1958, which the notification states expressly.

National Holidays in Kerala

Republic Day on Monday 26 January, Independence Day on Saturday 15 August and Gandhi Jayanthi on Friday 2 October are mandatory. Independence Day falls on a Saturday in 2026 and is absorbed by the weekend for five-day-week offices, and it lands ten days before Thiruvonam, so mid-August in Kerala is already turning towards Onam.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanthi on Tuesday 14 April is a declared public holiday in Kerala and appears on the Negotiable Instruments Act list as well. It falls the day before Vishu, so 14 and 15 April are consecutive closures.

Kerala-Specific Holidays

Onam runs four declared days in 2026: First Onam on Tuesday 25 August, Thiruvonam on Wednesday 26 August, Third Onam on Thursday 27 August and Fourth Onam on Friday 28 August. With the surrounding weekends that is a nine-day break for a five-day-week establishment. Thiruvonam is the principal day. Nothing commercial should be scheduled into this window.

First Onam shares 25 August with Milad-i-Sherif, and Fourth Onam shares 28 August with both Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi and Ayyankali Jayanthi. Three of Kerala's most significant commemorations land inside the Onam week in 2026 and yield no separate days off.

Mannam Jayanthi on Friday 2 January opens the year, commemorating Mannathu Padmanabhan, founder of the Nair Service Society. Together with Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi, Guru Samadhi Day on Monday 21 September and Ayyankali Jayanthi, Kerala declares more social-reform commemorations than any other state.

Kerala's Christian holidays are unusual in Indian terms. Maundy Thursday on Thursday 2 April is a declared public holiday, which very few states grant, and with Good Friday on 3 April it produces a four-day Easter weekend. Easter itself is not separately declared in 2026 because it falls on Sunday 5 April.

Karkadaka Vavu on Wednesday 12 August is the day of ancestral offerings, with very large dawn gatherings at Thirunelli, Aluva and coastal sites. It is a public holiday for offices but not a banking holiday. Vijayadasami on Wednesday 21 October carries specific weight as Vidyarambham, when children are formally initiated into learning.

Restricted Holidays in Kerala

Kerala's restricted holidays are scoped by community rather than offered to everyone. The 2026 notification lists three: Ayya Vaikunda Swami Jayanthi on Wednesday 4 March for employees of the Nadar community, Avani Avittom on Friday 28 August for government employees of the Brahmin community, and Vishwakarma Day on Thursday 17 September for employees of the Vishwakarma community. Each is available to government, quasi-government and public sector undertaking employees and teachers of that community rather than to the workforce at large.

Avani Avittom is worthless in 2026. It falls on 28 August, which is already a public holiday as Fourth Onam, so the offices are closed for everyone anyway. That leaves two restricted days with any practical effect, each available only to a specific community.

There is no general two-days-from-a-list quota of the kind most states operate. An employee outside those three communities has no optional-holiday mechanism in Kerala at all, and anything beyond the declared list comes out of earned leave.

A separate provision in the same notification declares Wednesday 4 March a holiday for all State Government offices and public sector undertakings functioning in New Delhi, on account of Holi. It applies to Kerala government establishments in the capital, not within Kerala.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Kerala, 2026

Second Saturdays are the most commonly missed item in the Kerala calendar. The notification declares all Sundays and the second Saturday of every English month as closed holidays for public offices, which is separate from and additional to the 22 named days. An employer transplanting a six-day week from another state will be out of step with the state's own offices twelve times a year.

Onam bonus is treated as an established entitlement in Kerala practice, distinct from the statutory bonus under the Payment of Bonus Act, and is customarily paid before Thiruvonam, which is Wednesday 26 August in 2026. Late payment is a recurring cause of industrial dispute in a state where labour enforcement is active, so treat the date as firm.

The office list and the banking list diverge on four days. Muharram on 25 June, Karkadaka Vavu on 12 August and Third Onam on 27 August close government offices while banks work; 1 April closes banks for annual account closing while offices work. Anything payment-dependent has to be planned against the Negotiable Instruments Act list rather than the office list.

Kerala's Id-ul-Fitr runs a day ahead of most other states, Friday 20 March in Kerala against 21 March in Maharashtra and Delhi, reflecting local moon-sighting practice. A multi-state employer will have two correct dates for the same festival, and both need to sit in the calendar.

Engage HRMS handles second-Saturday rules, community-scoped restricted holidays and per-state festival dates as separate configuration, so a Kochi office and a Bengaluru office resolve the right days without maintaining parallel calendars, and Onam bonus can run as its own payment cycle.