Asia · Southern Asia · Sovereign state
Current time in Bangladesh
A single time zone at UTC+06:00.
Saturday, June 6, 2026
About Bangladesh's time
A single time zone.
Bangladesh uses Bangladesh Standard Time (BST), which is exactly UTC+6. The country does not observe daylight saving time, keeping things simple with a single, consistent time zone year-round.
Major cities
Cities of Bangladesh.
History
How Bangladesh keeps time.
Bangladesh inherited its time zone from its colonial past as part of British India. From 1890 to 1941, the region followed Calcutta Time (IST+05:58:30), a local mean time based on the longitude of Calcutta. In 1941, the entire subcontinent unspaced Indian Standard Time (UTC+05:30) was formally adopted, aligning regions more closely. With the partition of India in 1947, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) continued with Indian Standard Time until 1950, when it shifted forward 30 minutes to UTC+06:00, establishing what is now Bangladesh Standard Time. After independence in 1971, this UTC+06:00 offset became the permanent national standard. Bangladesh trialed Daylight Saving Time once in 2009 during a severe energy crisis to conserve electricity; clocks were advanced by one hour to UTC+07:00 from September 19 to December 31 that year. However, the policy was widely unpopular and was discontinued after just a few months, and standard UTC+06:00 remains the official time.
Did you know?
Things about Bangladesh's time.
Bangladesh has a striking solar noon misalignment — in the far western districts like Rangpur and Rajshahi (around UTC+05:53 in solar terms), the sun culminates nearly an hour before it does in eastern areas like Chittagong or Sylhet. This means sunrises and sunsets feel noticeably different across the narrow country, even though the same clock time applies everywhere. The 2009 daylight saving experiment is a curiosity in the region — Bangladesh joined a handful of Asian countries like Sri Lanka and South Korea that have tried and abandoned DST for energy reasons. Clocks jumped to UTC+07:00 from September to December, directly during the monsoon season, which confused farmers, disrupted prayer schedules, and was ultimately scrapped after public fatigue. For remote workers, Bangladesh’s single timezone and lack of DST means UTC+06:00 is reliably six hours year-round, making it straightforward for scheduling with partners in East and Southeast Asia.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Bangladesh's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- What time zone is Bangladesh in?
- Bangladesh uses Bangladesh Standard Time (BST), which is UTC+06:00 year-round with no daylight saving time.
- Does Bangladesh observe daylight saving time?
- No, Bangladesh does not observe daylight saving time. After a brief trial in 2009, it has permanently returned to UTC+06:00.
- Is there only one time zone in Bangladesh?
- Yes, Bangladesh has a single time zone: Asia/Dhaka, covering the entire country.
- What was Bangladesh Standard Time before 1950?
- Like the rest of the subcontinent, the region used Indian Standard Time (UTC+05:30) before switching to UTC+06:00 in 1950.
- Did Bangladesh ever try daylight saving time?
- Yes, in 2009 Bangladesh briefly advanced clocks by one hour to UTC+07:00 to conserve energy during a crisis, but the policy was unpopular and was discontinued after a few months.
- What is solar noon like across Bangladesh?
- Because Bangladesh uses a single time zone, solar noon occurs roughly an hour earlier in western districts like Rangpur than in eastern areas like Chittagong, despite the uniform clock time.
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