Current time in Delhi

One clock for a country two hours wide

Delhi uses India Standard Time (IST), UTC+5:30, as does every other part of India. The country stretches across almost 30 degrees of longitude, about two hours of solar time, but keeps a single clock defined by the 82.5° east meridian, which passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. The standard itself is maintained in the capital, by the atomic clocks of the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi.

The argument for a second time zone

In the far north-east of India the summer sun rises soon after 04:00 and winter evenings are dark by 16:30, hours out of step with office time set for the whole country. Tea estates in Assam have long kept an informal “tea garden time” one hour ahead of IST. Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory proposed a second zone at UTC+6:30 in 2018. The government has so far preferred to keep one time.

Neighbours a quarter or half an hour away

India does not use daylight saving time; its only experience of it dates from the Second World War. The half-hour offset produces unusual gaps with the countries around it. Pakistan is 30 minutes behind Delhi, Nepal is 15 minutes ahead and Bangladesh is 30 minutes ahead, while Sri Lanka shares India’s time exactly. Further away, Dubai is an hour and a half behind and Singapore two and a half hours ahead.

Delhi: time zone at a glance

Time zone

Asia/Kolkata

UTC offset

UTC+5:30, all year

Clock changes

None scheduled

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

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Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

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