India runs on GMT+5:30*. Yes, the half-hour offset is real — the country chose it at its independence in 1947 and has clung to it like a family heirloom ever since. No, there is no daylight saving.
Set your watch once to IST (Indian Standard Time) and leave it alone; the same clock applies from the Himalayan foothills to the southern tip of the peninsula, even though the sun rises a full two hours earlier in Arunachal Pradesh than it does in Gujarat.
A country that spans the width of Western Europe decided one time zone was perfectly adequate, and frankly, nobody has the energy to argue.
Locals, with characteristic self-awareness, have a pet name for it: Indian Stretchable Time. But we’ll come to that later.
[*India never changes its clocks — but yours might. If you’re coming from a country that observes daylight saving (most of Europe and North America), the time difference shifts by an hour between their summer and winter. From Germany, for example, India is 4½ hours ahead in winter but only 3½ hours ahead during European summer. India didn’t move; you did.]
