Summary of this article
Viral fake notice claimed government declared every Saturday bank holiday.
PIB Fact Check confirmed the viral gazette notification is fake.
Banks remain closed only on second and fourth Saturdays monthly.
Banks in India are currently closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, while the other Saturdays are working days. The government had declared the second and fourth Saturdays as public holidays for banks in 2015.
A notice claiming that the Central Government has now declared every Saturday a public holiday for all public sector banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), is circulating on social media.
PIB Fact Check Responds To Viral Bank Holiday Claim
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check unit has debunked the claims made by the notice and said that the document being circulated is fake.
In a post on X, PIB Fact Check said, “The document being circulated is fake. No such notification has been issued by Finanace Ministry of India declaring every Saturday as a public holiday for public sector banks.”
The clarification comes after the forged notice began circulating on social media with the appearance of an official government notification.
What Does The Fake Gazette Claim?
The document is presented as a Gazette of India notification dated September 30, 2026. It claims to have been issued by the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Financial Services and cites Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
According to PIB fact check’s post on X, the fake notification which was numbered S.O. as 4275E, claimed that the Central Government has declared every Saturday a public holiday for all public sector banks, including State Bank of India, with immediate effect.
The document also carries an official-looking Gazette format, along with a purported file number and the name of a Joint Secretary. These details have been used to make the notice look like a real government notification.
What Has PIB Advised
PIB Fact Check has advised people to report suspicious content related to the Central Government for verification instead of relying on documents circulating on social media. The fact-check unit has also shared its WhatsApp number, +91 8799711259, and email address, factcheck@pib.gov.in, for reporting suspicious content.
For now, the bank-holiday arrangement remains unchanged. The second and fourth Saturdays are bank holidays, while the other Saturdays continue to be working days. Customers should verify any such holiday announcements through official government or bank channels and act accordingly.
