Post Office Holiday List 2026: India Post Holidays 2026 with Dates

What is the post office holiday list 2026?

The post office holiday list 2026 has 14 compulsory holidays for all India Post offices, from Republic Day on 26 January to Christmas Day on 25 December. Three more holidays are chosen at state level. The table below copies the official list on indiapost.gov.in.

Source: India Post, All India Holidays 2026. We checked every weekday against the 2026 calendar. Three of these holidays fall on a weekend: Id-ul-Fitr (Saturday), Independence Day (Saturday) and Diwali (Sunday). The government order says no substitute holiday is given when a festival falls on a weekly off.

What are the restricted holidays in India Post holidays 2026?

Restricted holidays are optional days off for staff, not fixed closing days for every post office. Central Government staff in Delhi can choose any two from the official list below. Offices outside Delhi may follow a separate state list, so confirm with your own post office before you travel.

Source: Annexure II of the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 3 July 2025 (Holidays to be observed in Central Government offices during 2026). This is the list for Delhi offices. The Department of Posts forwarded this order to all postal circles on 12 August 2025.

Is post office open today?

A post office is normally open on a working day and closed on a Sunday or a date in the post office holiday list 2026 above. To find out if there is a post office holiday today, match today's date with the first table. Your circle may add three more holidays.

Use this quick check:

• Is today a Sunday? The office is generally closed.
• Is today's date in the 14-holiday table? The office is closed.
• Is today a state-level holiday for your circle? Ask your head post office.
• Is today a restricted holiday? Only some staff are off, so the counter may still work.

How many holidays does a post office observe in a year?

A post office observes 14 compulsory holidays plus 3 more holidays decided at state level, which makes 17. The government order says these three are chosen by the Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee in each state capital. The dates for festivals cannot be changed after the list is notified.

The order also says the nine restricted occasions left over, after the three are chosen, go into the restricted holiday list. The Department of Posts told its circles that recognised service associations may also be consulted, as far as possible, while the three holidays are finalised.

Is post office open on Sunday / 2nd and 4th Saturday?

Post offices are generally closed on Sundays and post office holidays, and they do no business with the public on those days. This is the rule in the official Post Office Guide Part 1 on indiapost.gov.in. Night Post Offices, which keep restricted hours, are the exception.

Saturday is not a holiday in that Guide. It shows Saturday as a working day with shorter hours at principal post offices: booking of registered and insured articles usually stops at 3 pm, and money order and savings bank work runs for about three hours, stopping at 1 pm. The Guide's list of post office holidays does not name any Saturday, including the 2nd and 4th.

Business hours are fixed locally, so check the notice at your own post office. Saturdays that are in the holiday table are closed. In 2026 these are 21 March (Id-ul-Fitr) and 15 August (Independence Day).

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How to check post office holiday today

To check a post office holiday today, open the official holiday page on indiapost.gov.in, choose the year 2026 and look for today's date. Then call or visit your local post office, because your circle can add three state-level holidays that are not on the all-India page.

Follow these steps:

1. Open indiapost.gov.in/holidays-list and select 2026.
2. Look for today's date and day in the table.
3. If it is not there, check whether today is a Sunday.
4. Ask your head post office for the holidays of your postal circle. For other help, India Post customer care is toll free on 1800 266 6868 (see indiapost.gov.in/contactus).
5. Check the notice board of your branch for any change.

Can post office holiday dates change?

Yes. The dates of Id-ul-Fitr, Id-ul-Zuha, Muharram and Id-e-Milad can change after the moon is sighted. Outside Delhi, the state-capital coordination committee can change these dates based on the state government's decision, and the change may be announced at very short notice.

The government order also allows Diwali to be observed one day early on Naraka Chaturdasi in a state, but only if that state declares that day as the compulsory Diwali holiday for its own offices. In 2026, Diwali is on Sunday, 8 November.

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