Unplanned holiday sparks discontent among unions and market players.

The declaration of a public holiday on January 22 in Maharashtra for the Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha celebrations has sparked protests among banking and financial institutions. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated that there will be no transactions or settlements in various financial markets, including government securities and foreign exchange, on that day. Bank unions have criticized the move as a “blatant misuse of government and public sector institutions,” arguing that the event is a religious, not a state function. The market was open for trading on Saturday, but will remain closed on Monday due to the public holiday declaration. The RBI also canceled a three-day variable rate repo auction, which will now be conducted on January 23. This is not the first time such a dispute has arisen, with a similar situation occurring in 2022 when the RBI declared a trading holiday in response to a public holiday declared by the Maharashtra government.