Maharashtra Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Maharashtra's Holiday Calendar in 2026

If you're managing a team in Maharashtra, the holiday calendar is something you'll want to sort out well before January. The state has a mix of national holidays everyone in India observes, state-specific dates that are unique to Maharashtra, and restricted holidays that employees can choose from — and the combination means your HR team needs a clear policy before the year starts.

Maharashtra sits at the intersection of a lot of India's cultural and commercial activity. Mumbai-based companies often have employees from different states and religions, which means the restricted holiday list actually gets used more here than in most places. It's not uncommon for a Mumbai office to have team members observing Holi, Eid, and Christmas all in the same quarter.

For payroll purposes, Maharashtra follows the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, which means most commercial establishments are bound by the state's declared holidays. If you're running manufacturing or factory operations, the Factories Act comes into play separately, and the holidays may differ slightly. Always check your applicable legislation before finalising the year's leave calendar.

National Holidays in Maharashtra

Three holidays are non-negotiable across India: Republic Day on January 26, Independence Day on August 15, and Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. Every establishment — private or government — shuts down on these days, and there's no option to substitute or compensate them with a working day.

In Maharashtra, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14 carries the weight of a national holiday in practice. Ambedkar was born in what is now Madhya Pradesh but spent much of his life in Maharashtra, and his legacy is deeply tied to the state. Most businesses treat this as a full day off regardless of whether they technically need to.

Maharashtra-Specific Holidays

Gudi Padwa is Maharashtra's equivalent of a new year — it falls on the first day of the Chaitra month and is when many Maharashtrian families start new ventures, buy gold, or sign property papers. For businesses, it means a Monday off in late March 2026, which often results in a long weekend when combined with Good Friday earlier that week.

Maharashtra Day on May 1 marks the day the state was carved out of Bombay State in 1960 after the Samyukta Maharashtra movement. It's a state holiday that offices in Maharashtra take seriously — you'll find more government offices and banks closed on this day than on some of the other state-specific dates.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti in February is another non-negotiable in Maharashtra. February 19 is when the state honours its founding king, and any establishment that tries to keep offices open risks significant pushback. It's also a date that falls midway through Q4 for most Indian financial calendars, so build it into your project timelines.

Restricted Holidays in Maharashtra

Maharashtra's restricted holiday list gives employees the flexibility to observe dates that matter to them personally. The list typically includes Holi, Maha Shivratri, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Milad-un-Nabi, and a few others. Employees usually need to apply in advance and have a limited number of restricted leaves they can take per year — typically two.

As an HR manager, the practical side is this: collect restricted holiday applications early, especially for dates like Holi (which often falls near Gudi Padwa, creating cluster leave requests). Having a clear policy on how many employees from the same team can take restricted leave on the same day saves a lot of conflict later.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Maharashtra — 2026

One thing that catches growing Maharashtra-based companies off guard is the timing of state holidays relative to payroll cycles. May 1 (Maharashtra Day) often lands right when monthly salaries are being processed. If your bank is closed and your payroll software doesn't handle this automatically, salaries get delayed — which is both a compliance issue and an employee relations problem.

For companies with employees in Maharashtra and other states, you'll need to maintain separate leave calendars for each state. An employee in your Mumbai office has a different holiday set from someone in your Bengaluru office — Gudi Padwa is off in Mumbai, Ugadi is off in Bengaluru, and they both fall on the same day in 2026. Managing this manually is error-prone.

This is exactly the kind of thing Engage HRMS handles automatically. You can set state-specific holiday calendars, assign employees to the right calendar based on their location, and let the system calculate leave balances and payroll deductions without manual intervention. It takes about 15 minutes to configure and saves your HR team hours every month.