New Delhi: In the month of October, bank branches will remain closed for upto 21 days. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mentioned some days when the banking operations will remain closed in the month of October 2025, although online banking activities will continue to work.

While some bank holidays will be observed nation-wide, some others will be local holidays. Several bank branches will remain closed in various states owing to these festivities. Before visiting your bank branch in the month of October, you must note down the list of important days during which banks will remain closed.

Banks will remain closed for total 21 days in the month of October– 15  as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holiday calendar list and the remaining days are that of weekends. However, you must note that the banks will NOT be closed for 21 days in all states or regions. This is the total number of days when banks in different parts of the country will remain closed for state-observed holidays.

For example bank branches might be closed for Kati Bihu in Assam but not closed for the same in other states.

Reserve Bank of India places its Holidays under three brackets –Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act; Holiday under Negotiable Instruments Act and Real Time Gross Settlement Holiday; and Banks’ Closing of Accounts. However, it must be noted that the bank holidays vary in various states as well not observed by all the banking companies. Banking holidays also depend on the festivals being observed in specific states or notification of specific occasions in those states.

Here is an elaborate list of bank holidays falling in the month of October 2025. Check out the list.

Navaratri Ends/Maha Navami/Dussehra/Ayudhapooja, Vijayadasami/Durga Puja (Dasain): October 1

Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti/Dasara/Vijaya Dashami/Dussehra/Durga Puja (Dasain)/Janmotsav of Sri Sri Sankardeva: October 2

Durga Puja (Dasain): October 3

Durga Puja (Dasain): October 4

Lakshmi Puja: October 6

Maharshi Valmiki Jayanti/Kumar Purnima: October 7

Karva Chauth: October 10

Kati Bihu: October 18

Diwali (Deepavali)/Naraka Chaturdashi/Kali Puja: October 20

Diwali Amavasya (Laxmi Pujan)/Deepawali/Govardhan Pooja: October 21

Diwali (Bali Pratipada)/Vikram Samvant New Year Day/Govardhan Pooja/Balipadyami, Laxmi Puja (Deepawali): October 22

Bhai Bij/Bhaidooj/Chitragupt Jayanti/Laxmi Puja (Deepawali)/Bhratridwitiya/Ningol Chakkouba: October 23

Chath Puja (Evening Puja): October 27

Chath Puja (Morning Puja): October 28

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s Birthday: October 31

Apart from the above bank holidays, the second and fourth Saturdays, Sundays of the month are falling on the following dates:

Sunday: October 5

Second Saturday: October 11

Sunday: October 12

Sunday: October19

Fourth Saturday: October 25

Sunday: October 26

Check Dates And State Wise List Of Bank Holidays In October 2025

Holidays of the mentioned days will be observed in various regions according to the state declared holidays, however for the gazetted holidays, banks will be closed all over the country.

If you keep a track of these holidays, you would be able to plan bank transaction activities in a better way. For long weekends, you can even plan your holidays well.

Last Updated:September 26, 2025, 08:45 IST

Accenture is cutting jobs, exiting parts of its portfolio as it braces for slower growth in FY26, highlighting mounting pressure in IT services sector

Accenture (File Photo)

Accenture is cutting jobs and exiting parts of its portfolio as it braces for slower growth in FY26, highlighting mounting pressure across the global IT services sector despite sustained investment in AI and cloud.

CEO Julie Sweet said the company is “exiting, on a compressed timeline, people where re-skilling is not a viable path for the skills we need,” during its September 25 earnings call. She did not provide a layoff figure, but headcount decreased by approximately 7,000 in Q4 FY25, reducing the workforce to roughly 770,000.

The restructuring comes amid moderating growth and softer client demand, even as Accenture doubles down on generative AI and cloud offerings. “We continue to see pockets of strong AI-driven demand, [but] overall growth in our key markets is moderating,” Sweet said.

Accenture now expects FY26 revenue to rise just 2–5% in local currency—well below last year’s 7%—excluding a further 1–1.5-point drag from its slowing U.S. federal business. That unit has been hit by procurement disruptions under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led agency reshaping federal contracts.

CFO Angie Park said the company will prioritise operational efficiency and higher-return investments, with plans to divest about $865 million in non-core assets and exit under-performing acquisitions.

Despite the cuts, Accenture said it will keep hiring and re-skilling in priority areas to support delivery, and expects headcount growth in the U.S. and Europe during FY26.

The realignment underscores broader turbulence in IT services: Tata Consultancy Services has already laid off more than 12,000 employees this year, citing skill mismatches and slowing demand.

Accenture’s shares slipped about 2% after the earnings release, reflecting investor unease over the weaker growth outlook and strategic pullbacks.

Aparna Deb

Aparna Deb is a Subeditor and writes for the business vertical of News18.com. She has a nose for news that matters. She is inquisitive and curious about things. Among other things, financial markets, economy, a…Read More

Aparna Deb is a Subeditor and writes for the business vertical of News18.com. She has a nose for news that matters. She is inquisitive and curious about things. Among other things, financial markets, economy, a… Read More

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New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released draft guidelines on the authentication mechanism framework for digital payment transaction authentication that will come into effect from April 1, 2026. 

The Central Bank said the feedback from the public has been examined and suitably incorporated in the final directions.

The directions focus on encouraging introduction of new factors of authentication by leveraging upon technological advancements.

The framework, however, does not call for discontinuation of SMS-based OTP as an authentication factor.

The aim is also to enable issuers to adopt additional risk-based checks beyond the minimum two-factor authentication based on the fraud risk perception of the underlying transaction and facilitate interoperability and open access to technology, along with delineating the responsibility of Issuers.

The draft guidelines also mandate card issuers to validate AFA in non-recurring cross-border CNP transactions whenever such a request is raised by the overseas merchant or acquirer.

The RBI says that all digital payment transactions in India are required to meet the norm of two factors of authentication. While no specific factor was mandated for authentication, the digital payments ecosystem has primarily adopted SMS-based One Time Password (OTP) as the additional factor.

“All digital payment transactions shall be authenticated by at least two distinct factors of authentication, unless exempted. Issuers may, at their discretion, offer a choice of authentication factors to their customers in compliance with these directions,” according to the RBI.

“It shall be ensured that for digital payment transactions, other than card present transactions, at least one of the factors of authentication is dynamically created or proven, i.e., the proof of possession of the factor, being sent as part of the transaction, is unique to that transaction. The factor of authentication shall be such that compromise of one factor does not affect reliability of the other,” it further added.

Also, system providers and system participants will offer authentication or tokenisation service that is accessible to all the applications and token requestors functioning in that operating environment for all use cases and channels or token storage mechanisms.