Maharashtra Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Maharashtra's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Maharashtra declares 24 public holidays for 2026 under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, by Notification No. PHD-1125/C.R.199/Japuk (29) dated 5 December 2025, published in the Maharashtra Government Gazette, Extraordinary Part One-Central Sub-Division, No. 184, of 8 December 2025. A separate notification adds Bhaubeej on Wednesday 11 November as a further holiday for state government offices, state undertakings, municipal corporations and councils, nagar panchayats, zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats.

The notification declares no restricted or optional holidays. Maharashtra does not run a state restricted-holiday scheme of the kind most other states publish alongside their gazetted list. The 24 days are declared for everyone, and there is no list of two-per-employee optional days to administer. Central government offices located in Maharashtra follow the Government of India's own restricted-holiday list, which is a separate instrument and does not bind state establishments.

For payroll purposes, commercial establishments fall under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017. Factories follow the Factories Act framework separately, and the applicable list can differ. Check which Act governs the establishment before finalising the year's calendar.

National Holidays in Maharashtra

Republic Day on Monday 26 January, Independence Day on Saturday 15 August and Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti on Friday 2 October are mandatory nationwide. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti on Tuesday 14 April is separately declared in Maharashtra's own list rather than being observed by convention. Ambedkar's life and the Chaitya Bhoomi commemoration in Dadar make it one of the most heavily observed days in the state.

Independence Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, so a five-day-week office loses nothing on it. Republic Day is a Monday and Gandhi Jayanti a Friday, and both give a genuine long weekend.

Maharashtra-Specific Holidays

The 24 declared days occupy only 22 distinct dates, because the notification declares two pairs on the same day. Maharashtra Din and Buddha Pournima both fall on Friday 1 May, and Independence Day and Parsi New Year (Shahenshahi) both fall on Saturday 15 August. A calendar that counts entries rather than dates will overstate the year by two days.

Four of those 22 dates land on a weekend: Mahashivratri on Sunday 15 February, Ramzan-Id on Saturday 21 March, 15 August, and Diwali Laxmi Pujan on Sunday 8 November. That leaves 18 weekday closures from the gazette list, plus Bhaubeej, for 19 working days lost in a five-day week.

Ganesh Chaturthi on Monday 14 September is the single most significant date in the state. The declared holiday is one day, but Mumbai and Pune slow substantially for the full festival through to Anant Chaturdashi, which is not itself a declared holiday. Plan releases, audits and client deadlines around that window rather than through it.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti on Thursday 19 February and Gudhi Padwa on Thursday 19 March are both firmly observed. Note that the declared Holi holiday is the second day, Dhulivandan, on Tuesday 3 March, not the first day. Employers who close on the wrong day of Holi are a recurring source of confusion in the state.

Janmashtami is not on the 2026 list. Dahi Handi is celebrated heavily across Mumbai and Thane and many private employers grant the day, but it is not a declared holiday and there is no optional-holiday route to it either. If the establishment intends to close, that has to be a company holiday.

Restricted Holidays in Maharashtra

Maharashtra declares no restricted or optional holidays for 2026. The Negotiable Instruments Act notification contains only the 24 public holidays and a single bank-only day, and the state does not publish a separate two-per-employee optional list of the kind Himachal Pradesh, Bihar or the Government of India issue.

This simplifies administration but removes flexibility. An employee who observes Janmashtami, Makar Sankranti, Anant Chaturdashi or Christmas Eve has no optional-holiday mechanism to claim it and must use casual or earned leave. In a Mumbai office with a religiously mixed workforce, that lands as leave demand rather than as a scheduled closure, and it is worth planning capacity for.

Employers who want to offer optional days can do so as a matter of company policy. It is a contractual entitlement in that case, not a statutory one, so the rules on how many days, how far in advance, and how many people per team can take the same date are entirely the employer's to set and to write down.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Maharashtra, 2026

1 April 2026 is a bank holiday only. The notification declares it under a separate head so banks can close their yearly accounts, and states expressly that it is not admissible to government offices. Offices work; banks do not. Anything that depends on a bank settling, such as salary credits, statutory deposits and vendor payments, should not be scheduled into 1 April, and payroll runs at the start of the financial year need to clear before it.

Maharashtra Din on 1 May is the other payroll trap. It falls at the point in the month when salaries are typically processed, and in 2026 it is a Friday, so the closure runs into the weekend and the next banking day is Monday 4 May.

Diwali has to be planned as a block. Laxmi Pujan is Sunday 8 November, Bali Pratipada is Tuesday 10 November and Bhaubeej is Wednesday 11 November, leaving Monday 9 November as a working day wedged in the middle. Most Mumbai and Pune offices close for the whole stretch. Decide early whether 9 November is a working day for you, because the assumption will otherwise be made for you.

Bhaubeej is scoped differently from the rest. It comes from a separate notification covering state government offices, state undertakings and local bodies rather than from the Negotiable Instruments Act list, so private establishments and banks are not bound by it in the way they are by the 24. Establishments that mirror the government calendar should confirm which instrument they are actually following.

For companies operating in Maharashtra and other states, the calendars have to be maintained separately, because a Mumbai employee and a Bengaluru employee have different declared days. Engage HRMS lets you assign employees to state-specific calendars and resolves the correct holidays, bank-only days and company-declared optional days without maintaining parallel spreadsheets.