‘Is India losing productivity?’: Vidit Gujrathi sparks time zone debate after Kolkata turns dark early

Indian Chess grand master Vidit Gujrathi's X post on India's single time zone sparked a new debate online.

Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi has triggered a fresh online debate on whether India’s single time zone is hurting productivity, especially in the eastern parts of the country.

Taking to X, Vidit shared an observation from a recent visit to Kolkata, noting how quickly the city slipped into darkness. “Arrived in Kolkata today and it was quite dark around 5.30 pm already,” he wrote. While acknowledging that Indian Standard Time (IST) has its advantages, he raised a larger question about efficiency and output. “I am sure there must be many advantages of IST, but isn’t there a loss of productivity due to this? Just thinking out loud,” he added.

Arrived in Kolkata today and it was quite dark around 5.30pm already.

I am sure there must be many advantages of IST, but isn’t there a loss of productivity due to this?!… Just thinking out loud.. — Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) January 5, 2026

The post quickly went viral and opened up a wider discussion on whether a geographically vast country like India should continue with a single time zone. Several users echoed Vidit’s concern, arguing that eastern and northeastern states have long highlighted the mismatch between daylight hours and official working time. One user pointed out that demands for two or even three time zones have been raised for years in the East and Northeast, but without much progress.

Others drew international comparisons to strengthen the argument. A user cited Indonesia, a much smaller country, which follows multiple time zones, claiming that it has helped with better energy usage, improved quality of life, and economic efficiency. The user also mentioned China, which, like India, follows a single time zone despite its size, and questioned what practical barriers were stopping India from reconsidering its approach.

A much smaller country like Indonesia uses multiple zones, look at their better energy usage, improved quality of life, economy. By the way, China has the same issue with one time zone as India. What is actually stopping us from doing these? — Jay Bardhan (@ijaybardhan) January 6, 2026

However, not everyone agreed with Vidit’s line of thought. Critics dismissed the argument as unnecessary, with one user calling it a “pointless” comparison and questioning the link between sunset timings and productivity. The user argued that people do not work strictly by daylight or clock time and claimed that having multiple time zones, as seen in countries like the US, only adds complexity without real benefits.

Another user highlighted that in parts of the Northeast, particularly eastern Arunachal Pradesh, it can get dark as early as 4 pm during winter. They recalled that proposals for a separate time zone for the region had been made earlier but were rejected, largely due to logistical challenges such as coordinating domestic flight schedules and managing nationwide time-sensitive systems.