Current Time in Dhaka
The clock shows the time in Dhaka now, with seconds. Bangladesh uses UTC+6 in every season, half an hour ahead of India.
Current time in Dhaka
- IANA zone
- Current time in Dhaka
What is the time zone in Dhaka?
Dhaka keeps Bangladesh Standard Time, UTC+6, all year. It is 30 minutes ahead of India and one hour behind Thailand.
- Offset
- UTC+6
- Summer time
- Not observed
- IANA zone
- Asia/Dhaka
Bangladesh Standard Time
Bangladesh has used UTC+6 since 1951, when it was East Pakistan. The one exception was 2009: to cut evening power demand, the government moved clocks one hour ahead on June 19 and back on December 31. Public reaction was poor, and the country has kept UTC+6 ever since.
The IANA time zone database records that single 2009 shift, which is why old timestamps from that summer show UTC+7.
For anyone in Dhaka, the main pairs to remember are Kolkata at half an hour behind, Bangkok at one hour ahead and the Gulf at two or three hours behind.
- IANA zone
- Asia/Dhaka
- Standard time
- BST · UTC+6
- Daylight saving time
- Not observed
How Dhaka lines up with other cities
| City | In January | In July |
|---|---|---|
| Honolulu | −16 | −16 |
| Anchorage | −15 | −14 |
| Seattle | −14 | −13 |
| Denver | −13 | −12 |
| Vancouver | −13 | −13 |
| Houston | −12 | −11 |
| Lima | −11 | −11 |
| Toronto | −11 | −10 |
| Washington, D.C. | −11 | −10 |
| Buenos Aires | −9 | −9 |
| São Paulo | −9 | −9 |
| London | −6 | −5 |
| Amsterdam | −5 | −4 |
| Berlin | −5 | −4 |
| Madrid | −5 | −4 |
| Paris | −5 | −4 |
| Zurich | −5 | −4 |
| Athens | −4 | −3 |
| Cairo | −4 | −3 |
| Johannesburg | −4 | −4 |
| Doha | −3 | −3 |
| Nairobi | −3 | −3 |
| Riyadh | −3 | −3 |
| Dubai | −2 | −2 |
| Delhi | −0:30 | −0:30 |
| Ho Chi Minh City | +1 | +1 |
| Kuala Lumpur | +2 | +2 |
| Manila | +2 | +2 |
| Perth | +2 | +2 |
| Shanghai | +2 | +2 |
| Taipei | +2 | +2 |
| Seoul | +3 | +3 |
| Brisbane | +4 | +4 |
| Melbourne | +5 | +4 |
| Sydney | +5 | +4 |
Hours to add to the time in Dhaka; a minus sign means the other city is behind
BST is ambiguous
Bangladesh Standard Time and British Summer Time share the same letters but are five hours apart. In emails between Dhaka and the UK, give the city or the UTC offset.
With India on one side and Myanmar and Thailand on the other, Dhaka's neighbors are all on different clocks: Kolkata is half an hour behind, Yangon half an hour ahead and Bangkok one hour ahead. The Delhi clock shows India's side.
Clothing and textile buyers in Europe and the US are the most frequent callers. London is six hours behind Dhaka in winter and five in summer; New York eleven and ten.
Bangladesh's offset was chosen to fit the country's position near the 90° east meridian, so in Dhaka the sun is overhead close to noon on the clock. Sunrise falls between about 5:15 AM in June and 6:40 AM in January, which is part of why summer time was unpopular: it pushed winter-like dark mornings into the hot season.
Dhaka time questions
What time zone is Bangladesh in?
Bangladesh Standard Time, UTC+6, for the whole country, all year.
Did Bangladesh ever use daylight saving time?
Once. From June to December 2009 clocks were set one hour ahead to save electricity; the experiment was not repeated.
How far ahead of Delhi is Dhaka?
Thirty minutes, all year. When it is 10:00 AM in Delhi it is 10:30 AM in Dhaka.
What is the time difference between Dhaka and London?
Six hours in winter and five hours when the UK is on summer time.
Does BST mean Bangladesh time or British time?
Both are in use. In Bangladesh, BST is Bangladesh Standard Time, UTC+6; in the UK, it is British Summer Time, UTC+1.