Date and time notation in India

ISO 8601 has been adopted as Indian Standard IS 7900:2001 (Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times - first revision)^[1]

Date

In India the DD-MM-YY is the predominant short form of the numeric date usage in India. Almost all government documents need to be filled up in the DD-MM-YYYY format. An example of DD-MM-YYYY usage is the passport application form.^[2]

Both uses of the expanded form are used in India. The DD MMMM YYYY usage is more prevalent over the MMMM DD, YYYY usage. The MMMM DD, YYYY usage is more prevalent by media publications such as the print version of the Times of India^[3] and The Hindu^[4]

In India, dates in astrology or religious purposes are written in a year-month-day format.^{[citation needed]} This order is also found while reading dates in South Indian languages. (For example, 15 August 1947 would be read in Tamil as 1947 ஆம் ஆண்டு ஆகஸ்ட்(August) 15 ஆம் நாள்.) Whereas, north Indian languages, notably Hindi, follow a "day month year" format for reading the dates (15 August 1947 will be read as 15 अगस्त (August) सन 1947).^{[citation needed]} However, in written form, it is traditionally in "day month year" order, using a slash or hyphen as the separator. This order is used in both the traditional all-numeric date (e.g., "31/12/99" or "31-12-99") as well as in the expanded form (e.g., "31 December 1999"). Sometimes, the ordinal number for the day before the month is written down (e.g., 31 December 1999). When saying the date, it is usually pronounced by the ordinal number of the day first then the word "of" then the month (e.g. 31 December 1999). The use of its big-endian date notation is not very prevalent.^{[citation needed]}

Sundays are the start of the week.

Time

Both the 12-hour and 24-hour notations are widely used in India. The 12-hour notation is widely used in daily life, written communication, and is used in spoken language. The 24-hour notation is used in situations where there would be widespread ambiguity. Examples include railway timetables, plane departure and landing timings, and TV schedules. A colon is widely used to separate hours, minutes and seconds (e.g., 10:00:15).

References

1. ^ "Standards Published". Bureau of Indian Standards. http://www.bis.org.in/sf/pow1.asp?d=MS&c=005&x=DOCUMENTATION+AND+INFORMATION+SECTIONAL+COMMITTEE. Retrieved 2008-09-20. 
2. ^ "Passport Application Form" (PDF). Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. http://passport.gov.in/cpv/ppapp1.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-20. 
3. ^ http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default&Enter=true&Skin=TOI&GZ=T
4. ^ "The Hindu". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/11/11/stories/2003111101861200.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-20.