UTC to IST
India Standard Time is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of UTC, all year round. Enter a UTC time and date to get the exact time in India.
UTC to IST in one line
Add 5 hours 30 minutes. Neither clock ever changes: UTC has no daylight saving time and neither does India, so the difference is the same on every day of the year.
The half hour is what trips people up. A quick way to add it: add 6 hours, then take 30 minutes off. So 14:00 UTC is 20:00 less half an hour, which is 7:30 PM in India.
UTC to IST conversion table
| UTC | India Standard Time |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 5:30 AM |
| 01:00 | 6:30 AM |
| 02:00 | 7:30 AM |
| 03:00 | 8:30 AM |
| 04:00 | 9:30 AM |
| 05:00 | 10:30 AM |
| 06:00 | 11:30 AM |
| 07:00 | 12:30 PM |
| 08:00 | 1:30 PM |
| 09:00 | 2:30 PM |
| 10:00 | 3:30 PM |
| 11:00 | 4:30 PM |
| 12:00 | 5:30 PM |
| 13:00 | 6:30 PM |
| 14:00 | 7:30 PM |
| 15:00 | 8:30 PM |
| 16:00 | 9:30 PM |
| 17:00 | 10:30 PM |
| 18:00 | 11:30 PM |
| 19:00 | 12:30 AM, next day |
| 20:00 | 1:30 AM, next day |
| 21:00 | 2:30 AM, next day |
| 22:00 | 3:30 AM, next day |
| 23:00 | 4:30 AM, next day |
GMT to IST
For reading a clock, GMT and UTC are the same, so GMT to IST is also 5 hours 30 minutes ahead: 12:00 GMT is 5:30 PM IST.
“UK time” is a different matter. The United Kingdom moves to British Summer Time, an hour ahead of GMT, from late March to late October. In those months India is only 4 hours 30 minutes ahead of London. If you were given a time “in London”, use the time zone converter and choose London, which applies the right offset for the date.
Reading timestamps
Server logs, API responses, flight plans and exam or results portals record times in UTC. The usual format is ISO 8601, in which a trailing Z, or +00:00, means UTC.
| Timestamp | Meaning | In India |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-15T09:00:00Z | 9:00 AM UTC on 15 January | 2:30 PM on 15 January |
| 2026-06-30T12:00:00+00:00 | Noon UTC on 30 June | 5:30 PM on 30 June |
| 2026-03-31T18:30:00Z | 6:30 PM UTC on 31 March | Midnight at the start of 1 April |
| 2026-08-14T20:45:00Z | 8:45 PM UTC on 14 August | 2:15 AM on 15 August |
The last two rows show the catch: from 18:30 UTC onwards it is already the next day in India. Always carry the date across with the time.
Times announced in UTC
Online events, software releases, game launches and maintenance windows are often given in UTC. 00:00 UTC, the start of the UTC day, is 5:30 AM in India. 12:00 UTC is 5:30 PM, and an Indian day begins at 18:30 UTC on the date before.
To convert a US time instead, use EST to IST.
Questions
Is IST UTC+5:30?
Yes. India Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of UTC all year. It is written UTC+5:30 or +05:30.
What is 12:00 UTC in IST?
5:30 PM.
What is 00:00 UTC in IST?
5:30 AM, on the same date.
What is 18:00 UTC in IST?
11:30 PM. Half an hour later, at 18:30 UTC, the date changes in India.
How do I convert GMT to IST?
Add 5 hours 30 minutes, exactly as for UTC. GMT and UTC show the same time.
Does the difference change in summer?
No. Neither UTC nor India observes daylight saving time, so India is always 5 hours 30 minutes ahead.
Why is India half an hour off?
India chose a single national time based on a line of longitude near the middle of the country, which falls five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich.