What this tool does
Whether the start date counts is the single most common source of a one-day error in this kind of count, so here it is a switch rather than a hidden convention. Count working days between two dates, add business days to a date, or total a whole month, with the weekend set to your own working week and the holidays typed in by you. Every day removed from the count is listed back to you, so the answer is auditable rather than trusted.
How it works
A business day is a day your weekend pattern leaves open, minus the holidays you list. The default counts both the start date and the end date, which is what Excel's NETWORKDAYS does: 1 June to 8 June 2026 is 6, not 5. The three other conventions are one click away, and where your choice differs from the inclusive one the tool tells you what the inclusive figure would have been, because a mismatch of conventions is the usual cause of the complaint rather than a wrong answer.
The weekend is a local custom rather than a fact, so it is an input here. Monday to Friday is the default everywhere. Monday to Saturday with Sunday off is the six-day week most Indian retail, manufacturing and small businesses run on. Sunday to Thursday with Friday and Saturday off is the Gulf pattern, where the working week starts on Sunday. Counting the same month under two patterns is how you discover that a supplier quoting in working days will consume 26 days of your clerk's month rather than 22.
Adding business days behaves like Excel's WORKDAY, and the result then rolls forward if a deadline lands on a closed day, which is the normal rule for a filing date, a contract expiry or a delivery term, though the direction of the roll belongs to the contract or the statute and not to any calculator. The tool also converts a business-day count into the calendar time it actually consumes, which is where a 30-working-day term quietly becomes 42 days.
A bundled preset of India's 2026 central gazetted holidays is available to insert, and it is deliberately partial: eight dates drawn from the central list, not a state list. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab publish their own, and they differ from each other and from the central one. Several dates in any such list are moon-dependent and were revised after the first notification, so type in what your establishment actually observes and the count becomes yours to defend.
Worked example
Working days in June 2026 with no holidays, counted on a five-day week and then on a six-day week.
- June 2026 has 30 days, of which 4 Saturdays and 4 Sundays are weekend days
- Monday to Friday: 30 - 8 weekend days = 22 working days
- Monday to Saturday: only the 4 Sundays are removed, giving 26 working days
- A 30-business-day term on the five-day pattern spans about 42 calendar days
22 working days in June 2026 on a five-day week and 26 on a six-day week, a four-day difference that decides whether a quoted lead time is realistic.
Accuracy and limitations
- The bundled holiday preset is a partial list of India's 2026 central gazetted holidays, not a state list. States publish their own notifications, and several of those dates are moon-dependent and were revised after publication.
- A cross-border contract carries two holiday lists, one per jurisdiction. This tool applies the one you give it and cannot know which law governs.
- A statutory deadline landing on a non-working day usually rolls forward, but some roll backward. Confirm the rule that applies to your jurisdiction rather than relying on the tool's default.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it count the start date?
- Yes, by default it counts both the start date and the end date, which is exactly what Excel's NETWORKDAYS does: 1 June to 8 June 2026 gives 6, not 5. You can switch to dropping the start, the end, or both. A one-day disagreement is almost always this convention rather than a calculation error.
- How do I count working days on a six-day week?
- Choose the Monday to Saturday (Sunday off) pattern, which is what most Indian retail, manufacturing and small businesses run. It changes the answer materially: June 2026 has 22 working days on a five-day week and 26 on a six-day week. Alternating Saturdays are not offered, because there is no single rule for them.
- Which holidays should I enter?
- Enter the dates your establishment actually observes. The one-click preset is a partial list of India's 2026 central gazetted holidays, not any state list, and several of those dates are moon-dependent and were revised after the notification was issued. Every excluded day is listed back to you so you can check it.
- What is the Excel equivalent of this?
- It reproduces NETWORKDAYS for counting and WORKDAY for adding business days, including the inclusive default on both endpoints. Excel's WORKDAY.rollup and WORKDAY.INTL do the same job with a weekend argument, and where a deadline lands on a closed day this page shows the rolled-forward date alongside the raw one.
- How many working days are left until a date?
- Put today's date and your target into the between-two-dates mode, with your own weekend pattern and holiday list. A count near 30 business days is also shown as the calendar time it actually consumes, roughly 42 days, which is why a term written as net 30 is closer to six weeks of waiting.