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Time in India — regions, cities and time zones

India uses a single time zone, India Standard Time, set at UTC+5:30. There is no daylight saving. From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, every clock in the country reads the same, which is unusual for a nation this wide.

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Capital New Delhi · Asia · ISO IN / IND

New Delhi, India

Friday, 4 September 2026

UTC+5:30 · Asia/Kolkata

Time and sun data for New Delhi, India

The sun in New Delhi

Sunrise 06:02 Solar noon 12:22 Sunset 18:42 Daylight 12 h 40 min Night 11 h 20 min Civil twilight 05:38 – 19:06

States and regions (40)

Current time in New Delhi

New Delhi runs on IST, identifier Asia/Kolkata. The offset is a half-hour one, which is the detail that trips up scheduling software and people alike: India is not five or six hours ahead of UTC but exactly five and a half, and that half never goes away.

The half-hour offset

Half-hour offsets are rare enough that many people mentally round them off, and rounding is how a call gets missed by thirty minutes. IST is anchored to a reference meridian passing near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, roughly through the middle of the country, which is why a single national clock works as well as it does despite the east–west spread.

The half hour is not a rounding error someone forgot to clean up. It is the compromise that lets Kolkata and Ahmedabad agree on when lunch is.

One clock, a very wide country

India spans a considerable range of longitude, so the sun does not rise at the same clock time everywhere. The far northeast sees dawn noticeably earlier than the western states, and by the time the west is starting its evening, the east has been dark for a while. This is the practical cost of national uniformity, and it is a long-running topic of discussion in the northeastern states in particular.

New Delhi — capital, in the north Mumbai — the western coast Kolkata — the east, and the source of the zone identifier Chennai and Bengaluru — the southern metros Guwahati and Itanagar — the northeast, where the sun runs earliest

Daylight saving: not used

India does not observe daylight saving time. The offset stays at UTC+5:30 in every month. That makes India one of the easier countries to schedule against, provided you get the half hour right, because only the other side of the call ever moves.

Scheduling with India

Against the UK, the gap is five and a half hours in the northern winter and four and a half in summer, because Britain moves and India does not. Against Central Europe, it is four and a half hours in winter and three and a half in summer.

Against the US East Coast, India is most of a working day ahead, so late morning in India lines up with the start of the American day. Against Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing, India is two and a half hours behind all year, since none of them use daylight saving either.

The recurring mistake is writing "IST" in an invitation without saying which IST. The abbreviation is also used for Irish Standard Time and, informally, for Israel Standard Time. If the meeting matters, write the offset out: UTC+5:30 removes all doubt in nine characters.

Working days and business hours

Standard office hours in the major metros generally start in the morning and run into the evening, with the overlap window against Europe falling in the Indian afternoon and against the Americas in the Indian evening or very early morning. Teams that work with both often split the difference deliberately, which is why the late-afternoon slot in India is the most contested hour on many calendars.

Questions and answers
How many time zones does India have?
One. India Standard Time at UTC+5:30 applies to the entire country, with no regional exceptions.
Does India use daylight saving time?
No. The offset stays the same all year, so any change in the gap to another country comes from that country's own clock change.
Why is the offset a half hour rather than a whole one?
IST is set against a reference meridian near the middle of the country, which falls between the whole-hour lines. A single central clock serves the whole territory better than splitting it.

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