If you are planning to head to your bank branch for some urgent work on Saturday, July 4, there is good news: branches will be open that day. In India, every Sunday is a bank holiday, but Saturdays follow a different rule. State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank and all other lenders shut down on only two Saturdays each month, and July 4 is not one of them.
When Banks Actually Close on Saturdays
The Reserve Bank of India fixes the holidays for scheduled commercial banks across the country every month. The rule is simple: banks stay shut only on the second and fourth Saturdays. Since July 4 is the first Saturday of the month, business will carry on as usual.
Back in September 2015, the RBI put this system in place, directing that all scheduled and non-scheduled banks, whether public, private, foreign, cooperative, regional rural or local area banks, would observe a public holiday on the second and fourth Saturdays.
Payment Systems Fully Operational on July 4
Because it is the first Saturday, every payment system will function for the entire working day on July 4. These include RTGS, NEFT, cheque clearing run by the various Bankers Clearing Houses in the country, the grid based Cheque Truncation System (CTS), and the ECS suite covering Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), Regional Electronic Clearing Service (RECS) and National Electronic Clearing Service (NECS).
The very next day, however, banks will be closed, since July 5 falls on a Sunday. Whether public, private, foreign or cooperative, no scheduled commercial bank will operate that day.
Bank Holidays in July 2026
Banks will remain shut for a total of 12 days this month, a count that mixes weekly offs with festival and special-occasion holidays. This time, closures fall on occasions such as MHIP Day, Beh Deinkhlam, Ratha Yatra, the death anniversary of U Tirot Singh, Kharchi Puja and Drukpa Tshe-zi.
Here is the full list:
- July 6: MHIP Day / Birth Anniversary of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee
- July 9: Beh Deinkhlam
- July 16: Ratha Yatra / Kang (Rathajatra) / Harela
- July 17: Death Anniversary of U Tirot Singh
- July 18: Drukpa Tshe-zi
- July 22: Kharchi Puja
- July 11 and 25: Banks stay closed as these are the second and fourth Saturdays of the month
- July 6, 12, 19 and 26: These are Sundays, so banks are shut nationwide
