IST
India Standard Time
UTC+5:30 — No daylight saving time
Abbreviation
IST
UTC Offset
UTC+5:30
Full Name
India Standard Time
DST
No
About IST — India Standard Time
India Standard Time (IST) is UTC+5:30, one of the most unusual time zones in the world due to its half-hour offset from the full-hour UTC grid. India uses a single time zone for the entire country despite spanning approximately 30 degrees of longitude—equivalent to two natural time zones. IST was established in 1905 as a compromise between Bombay Time and Calcutta Time. India does not observe daylight saving time. With over 1.4 billion people, IST is the time zone of the world's most populous country, covering the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange (NSE), and a massive IT industry based in Bengaluru.
Countries Using IST
- India
- Sri Lanka
Major Cities in IST
Conversion Examples for IST
| UTC Time | IST (UTC+5:30) |
|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC | 05:30 IST |
| 06:00 UTC | 11:30 IST |
| 09:00 UTC | 14:30 IST |
| 12:00 UTC | 17:30 IST |
| 15:00 UTC | 20:30 IST |
| 18:00 UTC | 23:30 IST |
| 21:00 UTC | 02:30 IST |
Related Time Zones
Tools
About IST (IST)
IST (UTC+5:30) is a standard time zone designation used by India, Sri Lanka. Time zone abbreviations like IST refer to a specific UTC offset rather than a geographic region — multiple time zones around the world may share the same offset while using different local names.
When scheduling internationally, it is more reliable to refer to a city name or IANA time zone identifier (like America/New_York or Asia/Dubai) than to a short abbreviation, since abbreviations are not globally standardised and can be ambiguous — for example, CST refers to both Central Standard Time (UTC−6) in North America and China Standard Time (UTC+8).
Use the conversion table on this page to see what any UTC hour maps to in IST, and use the tools below to convert between IST and any other time zone or city in real time.
UTC Offset vs IANA Time Zone: What's the Difference?
UTC Offset
A UTC offset like UTC+4 or UTC−5 is a simple number expressing how many hours and minutes a location is ahead of or behind Coordinated Universal Time. It is fixed and does not carry any information about DST rules or transitions.
IANA Time Zone
An IANA identifier like Europe/London or Asia/Tokyo is a database entry that includes the full history of UTC offset changes, DST rules, and historical exceptions for that location. IANA identifiers should always be preferred in software and scheduling systems.
Convert IST Time
IST — Frequently Asked Questions
IST time refers to India Standard Time, fixed at UTC+5:30 year-round across all of India. Unlike US or European time zones, IST never changes for daylight saving. Check the current IST time using the dedicated India time page.
IST is UTC+5:30, India's single national time zone. India does not observe daylight saving time, and IST applies everywhere from Mumbai to Kolkata.
India chose UTC+5:30 as a compromise between its easternmost and westernmost time zone needs. This avoids the disruption of having two separate time zones across the country.
IST (UTC+5:30) is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT (UTC+0).
IST (UTC+5:30) is 10 hours 30 minutes ahead of EST (UTC−5) in winter, and 9 hours 30 minutes ahead of EDT (UTC−4) in summer.
IST (UTC+5:30) is 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of GST/Dubai time (UTC+4). When it is 10:00 AM in Dubai, it is 11:30 AM in India.