NSE Holiday Watch: Equity Market Shut on 2 October 2026 for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

India's equity markets head into the first week of October 2026 with one fixed point already circled on every trading desk: Friday, 2 October 2026, the National Stock Exchange is shut. NSE circular NSE/CMTR/71775, dated 12 December 2025, lists 2 October 2026 as Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, a Capital Market segment trading holiday for the calendar year. Because Gandhi Jayanti is a gazetted national holiday, the BSE observes the same closure, so cash equities, the primary segment for retail investors, will not trade that day.

For anyone whose plan runs from this Monday, 28 September 2026, through to that closure, the days in between carry more than a single holiday. A statutory tax-audit deadline falls on 30 September, the quarterly small-savings notification takes effect on 1 October, and the Reserve Bank's next Monetary Policy Committee review is scheduled for 5-7 October 2026. This watchlist sets out, in order, the deadlines you cannot miss, the market events that move rates and returns, the state of the earnings calendar, and the questions readers ask most about a market holiday.

Statutory Deadlines

The nearest hard date is Wednesday, 30 September 2026. Under Section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the tax-audit report (Form 3CA/3CB with Form 3CD) for assessees liable to audit for Assessment Year 2026-27 must ordinarily be filed one month before the return due date, which places the statutory deadline at 30 September 2026. Businesses with turnover above Rs 1 crore, and professionals above Rs 50 lakh, are the taxpayers most affected. Any extension is announced only by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, so verify the live position at incometax.gov.in before assuming the date has moved.

The next milestone after the holiday is Wednesday, 7 October 2026, the due date for depositing tax deducted or collected at source during September 2026. Rule 30 of the Income-tax Rules requires TDS for a month to be paid to the government by the 7th of the following month, and Rule 37CA applies the same 7 October cut-off to TCS. Deductors who miss it face interest of 1.5% per month under Section 201(1A). If you are unsure what TDS covers, our glossary entry on tax deducted at source explains the mechanism.

Looking a little further, 15 October 2026 is the statutory date for the quarterly upload of Form 15G and Form 15H declarations collected during the July-September 2026 quarter, alongside the Form 27EQ TCS statement for the same quarter. Separately, advance-tax payers should note that the third instalment, taking cumulative payment to 75% under Section 211, is due on 15 December 2026; the second instalment of 45% fell on 15 September 2026 and has already passed. Readers new to the schedule can start with our advance tax glossary note.

The statutory text for the audit obligation is available in the consolidated Act at indiacode.nic.in. None of these deadlines is affected by the 2 October market holiday; the tax portal accepts filings on a public holiday, and only banked money movements, such as a physical challan cleared through a bank, would need to account for the closure.

Market Events

Thursday, 1 October 2026 brings the quarterly reset of small-savings interest rates. The Finance Ministry notifies rates for the Public Provident Fund, Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, Sukanya Samriddhi and the National Savings Certificate at the start of every quarter, with the notification for the October-December 2026 quarter due on or around 1 October 2026. For the July-September 2026 quarter, the ministry left every rate unchanged, the ninth consecutive quarter with no revision. The table below is the base against which any 1 October change should be read.

If the 1 October notification holds these rates for a tenth straight quarter, PPF stays at 7.1% and SCSS at 8.2%; if any moves, it will be effective for deposits made from 1 October 2026. You can read the compounding mechanics on a fixed 7.1% deposit in our PPF glossary note and test a monthly investing plan against these returns using the SIP calculator.

Friday, 2 October 2026 is the market closure itself. With the NSE Capital Market segment shut per circular NSE/CMTR/71775, there will be no cash-equity trading, no settlement of Friday trades, and no fresh mutual-fund Net Asset Value struck from Indian equity prices that day, because there are no domestic closing prices to value against. Investors placing a systematic-investment-plan instalment dated 2 October should expect it to process on the next working day, Monday, 5 October 2026; our NAV glossary entry explains why the cut-off matters. A four-day view of the week helps:

The larger market event sits just beyond the holiday. The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee meets on 5-7 October 2026, its next scheduled review. At the previous meeting on 5 August 2026 the MPC held the repo rate at 5.25%, a unanimous vote and the fourth consecutive pause after February, April, June and August 2026. Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the committee wanted greater clarity on the inflation outlook before acting. The associated rates stand at a standing deposit facility of 5.00% and a marginal standing facility of 5.50%, with FY 2026-27 projections of 6.7% GDP growth and 5.0% CPI inflation. Anyone with an external-benchmark-linked home loan should track the outcome, because EBLR loans reset within about three months of any repo change; the primary record is at rbi.org.in. Our repo rate glossary entry sets out how the transmission works.

Earnings

There is no confirmed company-results calendar tied to 2 October 2026 in the source briefing for this watchlist, and this desk does not publish an earnings date it cannot verify against an exchange filing. As a matter of convention, results for the July-September 2026 quarter, the second quarter of FY 2026-27, begin to arrive from mid-October once companies complete their board-meeting intimations to the exchanges under SEBI's listing regulations. On the holiday itself, 2 October 2026, no results can be declared to a closed exchange, and the compliance clock for board-meeting intimations does not run on that day.

For investors, the practical point is that the first full trading week of October 2026 opens on Monday, 5 October, with the RBI decision landing on 5-7 October and the earliest large-cap Q2 numbers still a week or more away. That sequencing means the near-term price action is more likely to be driven by the policy outcome and the 1 October small-savings signal than by corporate results. If you are deploying a lump sum around this window rather than a monthly instalment, the lumpsum calculator lets you compare a single deployment against a phased approach; a step-up SIP models an instalment that rises each year. Capital-gains treatment on anything you sell is unchanged by the holiday, and our long-term capital gains glossary note explains the current framework.

FAQ

Is the Indian stock market open on 2 October 2026?

No. NSE circular NSE/CMTR/71775, dated 12 December 2025, lists 2 October 2026 as a Capital Market segment trading holiday for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. The BSE observes the same national holiday, so cash-equity trading is closed on both exchanges that day.

Why is the market closed on 2 October?

2 October is Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, a gazetted national holiday marking Gandhi's birth in 1869. The exchanges publish a trading-holiday calendar each December, and the 2026 calendar in circular NSE/CMTR/71775 confirms the equity segments are shut on 2 October 2026.

What happens to my SIP instalment dated 2 October 2026?

With no domestic equity trading on 2 October 2026, no Net Asset Value is struck for equity schemes that day. An instalment dated 2 October should process on the next working day, Monday, 5 October 2026, at that day's NAV. Confirm the exact treatment with your fund house.

Are tax deadlines postponed because of the holiday?

No. The 30 September 2026 tax-audit deadline under Section 44AB and the 7 October 2026 TDS deposit under Rule 30 stand on their own statutory calendar. The income-tax portal at incometax.gov.in accepts filings on public holidays, so the 2 October closure does not extend them.

Do small-savings rates change on 1 October 2026?

The Finance Ministry notifies small-savings rates each quarter, with the October-December 2026 rates due on or around 1 October 2026. For July-September 2026 the ministry held every rate, including PPF at 7.1% and SCSS at 8.2%, unchanged for a ninth straight quarter. Verify the fresh notification before quoting a new figure.

When is the next RBI policy decision?

The Monetary Policy Committee's next scheduled review is 5-7 October 2026. At its 5 August 2026 meeting it held the repo rate at 5.25% for a fourth consecutive time. The outcome is published at rbi.org.in.

Does the holiday affect derivatives or currency markets?

The 2 October 2026 closure covers the Capital Market (cash equity) segment per circular NSE/CMTR/71775. Segment-specific timings for other products are published separately by the exchange, so check the relevant NSE circular for that segment before planning any trade around the date.