Diwali Digital Signage Ideas: 2026 Screen Plan for India

Diwali digital signage works when the screen changes with the festival. That means one message for Dhanteras on Friday 6 November 2026, another for Lakshmi Puja on Sunday 8 November, and nothing about Diwali after Bhai Dooj on Wednesday 11 November. This guide gives you a dated screen plan and ideas for each type of business. It also covers the practical checks that decide whether your screens help on the busiest days of the year: power cuts, offers that end on time, and the rules for screens that face the road.

Festival dates are for New Delhi from Drik Panchang, cross-checked against the central government holiday lists for 2026. Shopping figures come from CAIT and NPCI. Everything was checked on 12 October 2026.

When Is Diwali 2026, and When Should Festive Screens Go Live?

Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) is on Sunday 8 November 2026. The festive season on your screens starts much earlier, with Navratri, which began on 11 October.

Puja timings change by city. Drik Panchang gives the Lakshmi Puja muhurat as 5:54 pm to 7:50 pm in Delhi and 6:27 pm to 8:27 pm in Mumbai, so check your own city before you schedule a closing-early message.

Aim to have festive content on your screens by Dussehra and your Diwali offers scheduled by the end of October. That leaves the first week of November for checking every screen instead of designing slides in a hurry.

Why Do Screens Matter More at Diwali?

Because most Diwali buying still happens in shops. CAIT's survey of 60 distribution centres put Diwali 2025 trade at ₹6.05 lakh crore, the highest in its records, and found that mainline retail, particularly non-corporate and traditional markets, made up 85% of it. On Dhanteras alone, CAIT estimated sales of over ₹1 lakh crore, ₹60,000 crore of it in gold and silver jewellery and coins.

The rush shows in payments too. UPI handled 754 million transactions worth ₹1.02 lakh crore on 18 October 2025, Dhanteras day, its highest single day at the time (NPCI data reported by Business Today).

On days like these a printed standee cannot keep up: prices move, stock runs out and closing times change. A screen you update from your phone can.

What Should Your Screens Show Each Day, From Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj?

Treat the five days as five short campaigns, each with its own playlist. Here is a day-by-day plan you can copy.

Dhanteras, Friday 6 November

Dhanteras is the biggest buying day for gold, silver, utensils and appliances. Lead with what people came to buy: coins, lightweight jewellery, steel and brass utensils, kitchen appliances. Put the price or the offer in the first line, large enough to read from the door. If you sell gold, a line with the day's rate, typed in by your staff each morning, answers the first question every customer asks.

Choti Diwali, Saturday 7 November

Last-minute shoppers want to know what is still in stock and how fast they can get it. Show gift boxes that are ready to collect, the last time to order, and which billing counters are open. Take sold-out items off the screen as soon as they sell out, so nobody queues for something you no longer have.

Lakshmi Puja, Sunday 8 November

Mornings are for puja items: diyas, flowers, sweets, idols and rangoli colours. Evenings are for the puja itself, and many shops close early. Schedule a closing-time message from the afternoon, then a Diwali greeting that runs after you close. In 2026 Naraka Chaturdashi falls on the same day, so in Tamil Nadu and much of the south your Deepavali greetings also belong on 8 November.

Govardhan Puja and Gujarati New Year, 9 and 10 November

Drik Panchang places Govardhan Puja on Tuesday 10 November, while the central government's restricted holiday list has it on Monday 9 November, so follow what your area observes. Tuesday 10 November is also Gujarati New Year and Bali Pratipada: shops in Gujarat and Maharashtra should switch to New Year greetings and opening offers that morning.

Bhai Dooj, Wednesday 11 November

Gift hampers, sweets and personal gifts for brothers and sisters. This is the last day for Diwali content. From Thursday your screens should move on: Chhath Puja on Sunday 15 November in the east, Guru Nanak Jayanti on Tuesday 24 November, then Christmas and New Year.

Diwali Digital Signage Ideas by Type of Business

Every business has one message that matters most at Diwali. The table gives it for each, and the notes below cover the ones that need care.

Jewellery Stores

Gold has become much dearer. CAIT's Dhanteras 2025 note says gold rose from about ₹80,000 to over ₹1,30,000 per 10 grams in a year and that buyers moved to lightweight jewellery. So show weight and price ranges, not only design photos, and keep the Dhanteras coin offer on every loop. Wilyer's ticker and scroller widget runs a line of text along the screen, which suits a gold rate your staff update each morning.

Sweet Shops

Show the price per kilo of each sweet, gift box sizes with their prices, and the last time to place a pre-order for Lakshmi Puja. The screen does not replace the label on the tray. Since 1 October 2020, FSSAI has required a best-before date on every tray of loose sweets, and on 29 September 2026 it asked states to step up festive inspections of sweets, milk products and namkeen. For long counter queues, a queue management system calls token numbers on the screen instead of names across a crowded shop.

Restaurants and QSRs

Switch the menu by time of day: the festive thali at lunch, sweet and snack boxes in the evening, and party orders for the weekend before Diwali. A digital menu board changes all of this on a schedule, so nobody has to swap boards during the rush. For layouts, see these menu board ideas for QSRs, and for budgets, what a digital menu board costs in India.

Retail and Electronics Stores

Show the price the customer pays, not only the discount. Since 22 September 2025, GST on all TVs and monitors is 18% (it was 28% above 32 inches), and air conditioners also moved from 28% to 18%, so many festive prices are lower than last year's. Electronics and electricals made up 8% of Diwali 2025 trade in CAIT's survey. A screen in the window can carry the headline offer to people walking past; our window display guide covers placement, and the retail signage page shows how chains run offers by store.

Malls and Outdoor Screens

Inside a mall, screens earn their place by answering where: which floor has which sale, where the food court is, and the extended closing time. Screens that face a road follow city rules. Delhi's 2017 outdoor advertising policy does not allow flashing illuminated displays on MCD and NDMC roads and requires them to dim or switch off from 11 pm. Mumbai's 2025 BMC guidelines switch digital and LED displays off at 11 pm and ban flickering ads. These rules cover outdoor advertising devices, not screens inside your shop. For media owners, see our DOOH signage page.

Banks, Hospitals and Offices

For these, Diwali screens are mostly about information. A bank branch can run festive loan offers and the dates it will be closed, taken from its own holiday circular, since bank holidays vary by state. A hospital or clinic can show holiday OPD timings, burn first-aid advice from its own doctors and emergency numbers. An office can put greetings, the holiday list and the party plan on a digital notice board instead of email.

How Do You Make Diwali Creatives in Hindi and Regional Languages?

Show the offer in the language your customers read first, with English as the second line, not the other way round. A few rules keep it readable:

• One message per slide. A shopper walking past reads a headline, a price and one line, so keep each slide to that.
• Use the right script and check it on the screen. Design Devanagari, Tamil, Gujarati or Bengali text into the slide itself, then look at it on the real screen from across the shop. If you type text directly on the screen, choose a font that includes your script; Wilyer supports custom fonts for text.
• Match the festival to the region. Deepavali greetings in the south on 8 November, Gujarati New Year on 10 November, Chhath in Bihar and Jharkhand on 15 November. A chain can send each region its own playlist through screen groups.
• Design at the screen's resolution: 1920 x 1080 for a landscape Full HD screen, 1080 x 1920 for a portrait one.
• Keep animation calm on screens that face the road, where city rules may not allow flashing.

What If the Power Goes or the Internet Drops on Diwali?

Plan for both. Electricity demand peaks around the festival: India's peak demand on Diwali 2025 was 180.14 GW, and on Diwali 2024 it was 182.87 GW (power ministry data reported by PTI). Local faults happen on the busiest days too: in Goa in 2024, Anjuna and Assagao were without power for about 18 hours on Lakshmi Puja day after a cable fault.

• Power: put the screen and its player on a UPS. A 600VA UPS costs ₹1,899 to ₹3,299 on Amazon.in, and one third-party test puts an APC 600VA model at about 22 minutes on a 100 W load. That covers a short cut; a long one needs an inverter.
• Restart: switch the screen off at the plug once before the festival and check that it comes back on and starts playing by itself.
• Internet: Wilyer keeps playing content that is already downloaded to the screen when the connection drops (see how offline playback works). Publish your Diwali playlists a few days early so every screen has them stored before the rush.
• Alerts: set an offline alert so you hear about a dark screen before a customer does.

How Do You Make Diwali Offers End on Time?

Set the end date when you set the start. A Diwali sale still on screen in late November tells customers that nobody is watching. With playlist scheduling, each campaign runs only in its window: the Dhanteras playlist on 6 November, the closing-time message on the afternoon of 8 November, and the Diwali loop until Bhai Dooj. Our guide to content scheduling explains the options, and the playlist guide shows how to build each campaign.

Two habits help. Give every festive playlist an end date, with no exceptions. And the morning after each festival day, check what is actually playing on one screen in each location.

Starting Late? A Two-Week Diwali Screen Plan

If you are reading this with two weeks to go, you still have time. Keep it simple:

1. Day 1: list your screens, where each one hangs and what it shows now.
2. Days 2 to 4: make three slides per screen: the offer, the timings and the greeting.
3. Day 5: put the offer slide in your customers' language.
4. Day 6: schedule each festival day's playlist with a start and an end date.
5. Day 7: publish to every screen and check that each one has downloaded the content.
6. Days 8 to 14: test a power cut and a network drop on one screen, and fix what fails.

Your pre-Diwali Screen Checklist

Run through this list before 1 November, and again on the morning of Dhanteras.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Is Diwali in 2026?

Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) is on Sunday 8 November 2026. Dhanteras is on Friday 6 November and Bhai Dooj on Wednesday 11 November, according to Drik Panchang for New Delhi. Govardhan Puja falls on 9 or 10 November depending on the calendar you follow.

When Should a Shop Put Diwali Content on Its Screens?

Have festive content running by Dussehra on 20 October and your Diwali offers scheduled by the end of October. Use the first week of November to check that every screen shows the right content, not to design it.

What Should a Sweet Shop Show on Its Screen at Diwali?

The price per kilo of each sweet, gift box sizes and prices, the last time to place a pre-order, and token numbers at the counter. The best-before date still has to be on each tray of loose sweets, as FSSAI requires.

Can Diwali Offers Stop Showing on Their Own?

Yes. Give each festive playlist an end date when you schedule it, and it stops at the end of its window. Then no Diwali sale is left running on your screens in late November.

Will My Screens Keep Working If the Internet Goes Down?

Yes, if the content is already on the screen. Wilyer keeps playing content that has been downloaded to the screen when the connection drops, so publish your Diwali playlists a few days early. A UPS covers short power cuts.

Are There Rules for LED Screens Outside a Shop During Diwali?

In some cities, yes. Delhi's 2017 outdoor advertising policy does not allow flashing illuminated displays on MCD and NDMC roads and dims or switches them off from 11 pm, and Mumbai's 2025 BMC guidelines switch digital displays off at 11 pm. These rules cover outdoor advertising, not screens inside your shop.

Can I Show Diwali Content in Hindi and English Together?

Yes. Put your customers' first language on top and English below it, keep one message per slide, and check the script on the actual screen from across the shop before the festival.

Getting Started

Start with the screens you already have and one Diwali playlist per festival day. When you are ready, start a free trial with 15 screens for 14 days, or book a demo and we will help you plan your festive screens.