How to Schedule Meetings Between India and USA

I've worked with distributed teams for years, and I can tell you — the India-USA time gap is brutal. When my colleagues in Bangalore are wrapping up their day, I'm just pouring my first coffee in Brno. It's not quite as bad for US teams, but the 9.5 to 13.5 hour difference (depending on whether you're East Coast or West) makes scheduling genuinely tough.

Here's what actually works based on my experience coordinating across these zones.

The Time Zone Reality Check

India runs on Indian Standard Time (IST), which sits at UTC+5:30. That half-hour offset? It trips people up constantly.

US time zones and their gap to IST:

• Eastern Time (ET): New York, Boston, DC — 9.5 to 10.5 hours behind
• Central Time (CT): Chicago, Dallas, Houston — 10.5 to 11.5 hours behind
• Mountain Time (MT): Denver, Phoenix — 11.5 to 12.5 hours behind
• Pacific Time (PT): LA, San Francisco, Seattle — 12.5 to 13.5 hours behind

Quick math check: 9 AM Monday in New York equals 7:30 PM Monday in Mumbai. Push that to San Francisco, and you're looking at 10:30 PM in India.

According to timeanddate.com, this is one of the widest business-hour gaps between major tech hubs globally.

Meeting Windows That Actually Work

India + US East Coast

This is the least painful combination. You've got a 9.5-10.5 hour gap to work with.

My recommended window: 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM IST / 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM ET

India's team joins in the evening after work. US East Coast folks are fresh and caffeinated. You get two solid hours for standups or important decisions.

Alternative (if your India team prefers mornings): 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM IST / 8:30 PM - 10:30 PM ET (previous day)

Some people love early starts. Some hate them. Ask your team which poison they prefer.

India + US West Coast

This one hurts. 12.5-13.5 hours means someone's always getting screwed.

Option A: 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM IST / 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM PT

India works late. Really late. This only works if you rotate it.

Option B: 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM IST / 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM PT (previous day)

India rises with the sun. West Coast stays past dinner. Neither is ideal.

The truth? There's no good answer here. The best you can do is share the pain equally.

India + Both US Coasts

Now you're just being ambitious.

Compromise window: 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM IST / 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM ET / 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM PT

You get one hour. Make it count. West Coast is barely awake, India's losing evening hours, but at least East Coast is comfortable.

What Works in Practice

The Handoff Model

I've seen this work brilliantly at companies doing true 24-hour development cycles:

• India works their day on Asian timezone tasks
• End-of-day handoff meeting (their evening, US morning)
• US continues the work through their day
• Everything documented so nothing falls through cracks

It's like a relay race. You just need really good batons (documentation).

Rotate the Burden

Don't be that manager who always schedules at your convenient time. I rotate our team meetings:

• Week A: 8:30 PM IST / 10:00 AM ET
• Week B: 7:30 AM IST / 9:00 PM ET previous day

People notice when you respect their time. They also notice when you don't.

Pick Your Sync Moments

Not everything needs a meeting. Save real-time calls for:

• Technical architecture debates
• Brainstorming sessions
• Building relationships with new teammates
• Decisions that need quick back-and-forth

Everything else? Slack it. Email it. Loom it. Read our guide on async vs sync communication for a deeper dive.

Team Structure Matters

Larger teams should organize regionally:

• India has daily standups at reasonable IST hours
• US has their own syncs
• Cross-region meetings happen weekly, not daily

You'll ship faster when people aren't perpetually exhausted.

That Half-Hour Offset Is Your Friend

Sounds weird, but hear me out. A meeting at 9:30 AM ET (8:00 PM IST) feels cleaner than 10:00 AM ET (8:30 PM IST) because you hit round numbers in both zones. Small psychological win.

The DST Trap

India doesn't do Daylight Saving Time. The US does. Twice a year, your meeting times shift.

During US Standard Time (November - March):

• New York to Mumbai: 10.5 hours
• San Francisco to Mumbai: 13.5 hours

During US Daylight Time (March - November):

• New York to Mumbai: 9.5 hours
• San Francisco to Mumbai: 12.5 hours

2026 dates to mark:

• March 8: US springs forward
• November 1: US falls back

Your recurring 9 AM ET meeting will suddenly be an hour different in IST. Use the meeting planner to handle this automatically, or check our DST guide.

Running Better Meetings

Before You Meet

Always show both time zones in invites. "8:00 PM IST / 9:30 AM ET" — not just one. Tools like Whenest do this automatically.

Send the agenda 24+ hours early. Let people contribute async before the meeting. With limited sync time, you can't afford to wing it.

Share materials well in advance. Your "end of day" is their "next morning." Plan accordingly.

During the Meeting

Start on time. End early if you can. Someone joined at 9 PM their time. Don't let your 30-minute meeting bloat to an hour.

Record everything. People who couldn't make it will thank you. New team members will thank you. Future-you will thank you.

Take live notes in a shared doc. Prevents the "wait, what did we decide?" follow-up meetings.

After the Meeting

Post notes immediately. Don't wait until "your morning" — it's already their evening.

Create async channels for follow-up. Dedicated Slack threads work great. Questions get answered when the other side wakes up.

Tools Worth Using

• Whenest Meeting Planner**: See both time zones visually, find optimal windows
• Overlap Finder**: Shows exactly when working hours align
• Time Zone Converter**: Quick conversions without the mental math

Check How It Works for detailed walkthroughs.

Cultural Differences That Matter

Work Expectations

In India: Tech folks are used to flexible hours from years of working with global clients. Evening calls from 8-10 PM are standard in IT. There's a strong delivery focus.

In the US: Work-life boundaries tend to be firmer. After-hours work is less normalized outside crisis mode.

Neither approach is wrong. Just different.

Holidays to Remember

These don't overlap, so plan around them:

India:

• Diwali (October/November) — huge, multi-day
• Holi (March)
• Independence Day (August 15)
• Republic Day (January 26)

United States:

• Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November)
• July 4th
• Memorial Day, Labor Day

According to the IANA time zone database, India has fewer regional holiday variations than the US, which helps scheduling.

Mistakes I've Made (So You Don't Have To)

Rounding IST to the Hour

Don't do it. 10:30 AM ET is 8:00 PM IST, not 8:30 PM IST. That 30 minutes matters when someone's trying to catch dinner with family.

Always Picking the Same Time Slot

If India always goes late, resentment builds fast. Rotate it, or at minimum acknowledge the sacrifice out loud in meetings.

Ignoring DST Transitions

Twice yearly, US clocks change while India's don't. Communicate the shift proactively, don't let people show up an hour early or late.

Scheduling on Major Holidays

Diwali is not a "just another day" situation in India. Neither is Thanksgiving in the US. Respect it.

Assuming "Today" Means the Same Thing

With a 10+ hour gap, "I'll get back to you today" is ambiguous. Be specific: "I'll respond by 5 PM my time, which is tomorrow morning for you."

Building a Culture That Works

Say thank you. When someone joins at a weird hour, acknowledge it. "Thanks for staying late, Mumbai team" takes two seconds and matters.

Invest in relationships. Use some overlap time just to talk. Not about work. About life. Remote work is isolating enough without being purely transactional.

Write everything down. Documentation bridges the time gap better than anything else.

Be patient with delays. A 12-hour response time isn't someone ignoring you. It's someone sleeping. Plan your work with that rhythm in mind.

Read more about this in our time zone etiquette article.

Real Examples From Real Teams

Daily Standup: Bangalore + New York

8:30 PM IST / 10:00 AM ET, daily, 15 minutes max.

India gives end-of-day updates. US shares morning priorities. Follow-up happens async in a dedicated Slack channel. Works because it's short and consistent.

Sprint Planning: Hyderabad + San Francisco

Bi-weekly, 6:30 AM IST / 6:00 PM PT (previous day), 90 minutes with breaks.

They rotate monthly — one month India goes early, next month US stays late. Artifacts shared 48 hours in advance. No one loves it, but everyone gets equal pain.

Leadership Sync: Chicago + Mumbai + New York

Weekly, 8:00 PM IST / 9:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM CT, 45 minutes maximum.

Recorded for people who occasionally can't make it. Non-urgent decisions happen async. This only works because they keep it tight and focused.

Bottom Line

India-USA scheduling is hard. There's no perfect solution. But with rotating schedules, async-first thinking, good tools, and mutual respect, you can make it work.

The teams that succeed are the ones that acknowledge the difficulty instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

Want to visualize your team's overlap? Try the overlap finder for India and US locations, or use the meeting planner to schedule your next call without the mental math.