One clock for 1.4 billion people, offset from UTC by an unusual half hour.
India Standard Time (IST) is UTC+5:30 — the single timezone used across all of India, and also by Sri Lanka. It is one of the few half-hour offset zones in the world.
IST is based on the 82.5°E meridian near Mirzapur, chosen as a midpoint across India’s nearly 30° of longitude. That meridian sits exactly between the UTC+5 and UTC+6 lines — hence the half hour. The full story: Why is India 30 minutes off?
India does not observe DST, so IST is fixed year-round. The gap to US and European cities changes twice a year anyway — because their clocks move. India is 10:30 ahead of New York in winter, 9:30 in summer.
| When it’s 12:00 PM IST | It is |
|---|---|
| London | 6:30 AM (GMT) / 7:30 AM (BST) |
| New York | 1:30 AM (EST) / 2:30 AM (EDT) |
| Dubai | 10:30 AM |
| Singapore | 2:30 PM |
Live clock and more on Time in India.
IST is UTC+5:30 — five and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, year-round.
India and Sri Lanka both use UTC+5:30. (Note: IST can also abbreviate Irish Standard Time and Israel Standard Time in other contexts.)
No. India does not observe daylight saving time, so IST is fixed at UTC+5:30 all year.