Q1. Can you take us back to the early days of Bharat Signage? What made you realize there was a need for a simpler digital signage solution?
Yes, the idea goes back to 2019, when my father wanted a TV to automatically play a particular video on a loop every day. It sounded like a very simple requirement, but finding an easy solution was surprisingly difficult. When I researched digital signage platforms, I found that many of them were either expensive, with some costing around ₹3,000 per month for basic functionality, or too complicated for someone without a technical background.
At that time, I had just started my Computer Science degree, so I couldn’t build the solution myself. However, the experience made me realize that there was a genuine gap: digital signage technology was available, but it wasn’t simple or accessible enough for everyday users and small businesses. I kept thinking about that problem, and over time, it became the idea behind Bharat Signage, a platform designed to make putting and managing content on a screen as simple as possible.
Q2. What are some of the key trends shaping the digital signage and RetailTech landscape in India, and how do you expect the industry to evolve over the next few years?
One of the biggest trends is the shift from simply pushing advertisements to delivering more dynamic and interactive content. Viewers can quickly lose interest in repetitive loops, which is why businesses are increasingly looking at split-screen experiences that combine promotional content with real-time information such as news, weather, and social feeds.
Over the next few years, I expect RetailTech in India to move further toward localized and interactive experiences, where customers can engage directly with screens and content can adapt based on factors such as time of day and viewer demographics.
Q3. As businesses expand across multiple locations, what role can cloud-based digital signage play in maintaining consistent branding and communication?
As a business expands to five, ten, or fifty locations, managing physical banners or individual USB drives becomes increasingly difficult. Cloud-based digital signage replaces much of that manual effort with centralized control.
From a single dashboard, businesses can update product pricing, launch promotions, or change seasonal branding across multiple screens simultaneously. This makes it easier to maintain consistent brand communication across locations without depending on individual store staff to make manual updates.
Q4. Beyond advertising, how can digital screens be leveraged to improve customer experience and engagement across sectors such as retail, hospitality, healthcare and corporate workplaces?
Advertising is only one application of digital screens. In healthcare, screens can display token or queue updates alongside health information, helping make waiting areas more informative. In corporate offices and schools, they can serve as real-time communication boards for announcements, events, news, and internal information.
In retail and hospitality, interactive screens can support self-service experiences by allowing customers to browse digital menus, product catalogues, or interactive product guides. When useful information and interactive functionality are combined with branding, customers can remain engaged without feeling that they are simply being advertised to.
Q5. With AI becoming increasingly integrated into marketing and customer experience, how do you see AI influencing the future of digital signage and content management?
Coming from a Computer Science background with a specialization in Data Science and Machine Learning, this is an area I find particularly exciting. I believe AI can take digital signage beyond pre-scheduled playlists toward intelligent, context-aware displays.
For example, AI and computer vision could help analyze foot-traffic patterns and determine when certain promotions should be displayed. AI could also help generate or adapt content based on factors such as weather, time of day, or customer dwell time. Over time, this could enable digital signage platforms to better understand viewer engagement and optimize content in real time.
Q6. What are the biggest challenges businesses face when moving from traditional signage to digital solutions, and what should organizations consider before making this transition?
The biggest concerns businesses face are hardware costs, software subscriptions, and the perceived technical complexity of managing digital signage. Many organizations assume they need specialized displays, professional technicians, and significant maintenance budgets.
Before making the transition, businesses should consider whether they can use their existing TV hardware, whether the software is simple enough for non-technical team members, and whether the solution can scale without becoming prohibitively expensive. Digital transformation shouldn’t necessarily require a complete hardware overhaul or a dedicated IT team; with the right platform, it can be as simple as pairing an application with an existing TV and managing content from a centralized platform.
Q7. Your platform allows businesses to turn an existing Android TV into a smart digital display, with a “Download → Pair → Play” setup. What made you decide to build a solution that does not require specialized hardware or technical expertise?
Specialized media players and proprietary hardware can create an immediate cost barrier, particularly for small businesses. Most shops, offices, and clinics already have an Android TV or Android-based display, so we wanted businesses to be able to use the hardware they already have.
When I started developing the application in 2023 during my final year of college, I spent months testing and optimizing it because Android devices vary significantly in terms of hardware capabilities. Some have limited RAM, while others run on basic processors. This pushed us to focus on performance and make the software work reliably even on budget hardware. With the “Download → Pair → Play” approach, businesses can get started without investing in specialized hardware.
