Deepavali is on Sunday, 8 November 2026 — and Bengaluru is already gearing up.
Dhanteras falls on Friday the 6th. The Lakshmi Puja muhurat — the auspicious window families across the city plan their evening around — runs from 5.54 pm to 7.50 pm on the 8th. BBMP's temporary cracker shops open their shutters from 3 November and wind up on the 8th. Schools are off for three days, and more than a few tech companies have quietly extended the weekend. It's going to be a long, loud, beautiful week.
If you're new to the city, or you've just never had to think about where to buy a box of sparklers before, this guide is for you. We've pulled together everything the city's various departments have quietly published — the licensed shops, the government grounds, the emergency numbers, and what each agency actually does when the fireworks start — and turned it into one walkable map of the city.
First, where to actually buy crackers
There are two kinds of places to buy fireworks in Bengaluru, and they're very different from each other.
The permanent shops — the year-round, fully licensed ones
These hold a Form LE-5 licence from PESO (the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation), which means they've cleared fire NOC, police NOC and BBMP trade licence. They operate all year, not just during Deepavali. There are only about 15 to 20 of them in the entire city — the rules are strict enough that most traders don't bother.
Here's where they are, zone by zone.
Central Bengaluru — the wholesale heartland
Sri Shivanand Stores in Mamulpet, Chickpet, is the grand old man of the trade. Number 138, near KR Market, in the pincode 560053. It's been licensed since 1935 — before Independence — and is a 300-metre walk from Chickpet Metro on the Purple Line. If you're driving, park at the KR Market BBMP complex. It serves Chickpet, Sultanpete, City Market, Kalasipalyam, Chamarajpet, Basavanagudi, Majestic and Gandhinagar — essentially the whole old city. You can also order online at bookmycrackers.com.
Nagaraj Trading on Sultanpete Main Road is the other big name here — about 600 metres from Chickpet Metro. It covers Sultanpete, Chickpet, Cottonpete and Binnypete.
West Bengaluru
Varadaraja Swamy Crackers in Vijayanagar (MC Layout, 4th Main, 40, 14th Cross Road) is the go-to for Vijayanagar, Rajajinagar, Chandra Layout and RPC Layout residents. Vijayanagar Metro is 800 metres away, Magadi Road Metro about a kilometre.
RR Crackers sits right next to Magadi Road Metro — literally 100 metres from the station at 6/5, 14th Cross, 10th C Main Road. If you're car-free, this is possibly the most convenient shop in the city. Covers Magadi Road, Rajajinagar, Vijayanagar and Laggere.
The Fireworks Shop in Andrahalli (37, 13th Cross, Om Shakthi Temple Road) is the option for Peenya, Dasarahalli, Rajagopalnagar and Andrahalli folks. Closest metro is Nagasandra, about a 4 km auto ride.
East and North Bengaluru
Ceasefire Godown in Koramangala (118, near 80 Feet Road) serves Koramangala, HSR Layout and BTM Layout.
Pataki Bazar (1357, 2nd Main, 3rd Cross Road) does online delivery across Bangalore at patakibazaar.com — worth knowing if you'd rather not battle traffic.
Vaishnavi Cracker Shop in Yelahanka New Town (Bagalur Main Road) is the one for Yelahanka, Hebbal, Sahakarnagar and Jakkur.
Shree Balaji Enterprises at Babusapalya on Outer Ring Road covers Kalyan Nagar, Hennur, Banaswadi and Horamavu.
The temporary grounds — the government's 70 designated playgrounds
Every year, BBMP identifies playgrounds across the city and hands the list to the Police Commissioner, who then runs a lottery to allocate shop licences. In a typical year, more than 5,000 applications come in for roughly 430 licences — the odds are about one in twelve.
Before any ground gets approved, the Fire Department inspects it for a few non-negotiables:
- A proper approach road for fire tenders
- Three metres of gap between adjacent sheds
- Fifty metres' clearance from protected buildings
- Conduit (not loose) electricity wiring
- No electricity at all after dark
- A master switch for each row of shops
- A cap of 50 shops per cluster
The ground itself is then vacated the very next day after Deepavali — a rule that dates back to a Karnataka High Court order — and cleaned up before the Pourakarmikas move on.
Here's how the 70 grounds break down by zone (based on the 2023–2026 pattern):
- East — 23 grounds, 101 shops
- South — 7 grounds, 87 shops
- Mahadevapura — 12 grounds
- Yelahanka — 9 grounds, 28 shops
- West — 4 grounds
- Bommanahalli — 3 grounds, 6 shops
- Dasarahalli — 1 ground
- Total — 70 grounds, 426 shops
The grounds you'll actually want to know about
A few stand out for convenience or sheer size:
Malleshwaram Playground (35 shops) is the biggest cluster in the city. On 8th Cross, near the metro — literally a two-minute walk from Malleshwaram Metro. Covers Malleshwaram, Rajajinagar and Yeshwanthpur.
Jayanagar Telephone Exchange Ground (18 shops) in Jayanagar 7th Block, about a kilometre from Jayanagar Metro. Covers Jayanagar, BTM and Banashankari.
JP Nagar Playground (17 shops) in JP Nagar 7th Phase, near the police station. Take Jayanagar Metro and an auto for about 15 minutes, or bus to the JP Nagar 7th Phase stop. Covers JP Nagar, Padmanabhanagar and Kumaraswamy Layout.
Rama Mandira Playground in Rajajinagar (28 shops), on 10th Main — 500 metres from Rajajinagar Metro. Covers Rajajinagar and Mahalakshmi Layout.
HSR Layout BDA Complex Ground in Sector 1 — no direct metro, so your best bet is the Silk Board bus hub. Covers HSR, Koramangala and Bellandur.
Some of the smaller neighbourhood grounds you might not have heard of: Deepak playground (15 shops), Udayabhanu playground (10), HMT playground (9), Shankarnag playground in Rajarajeshwari Nagar (18), Akkithimmanahalli playground (13), Wilson Garden playground (13), Mahalakshmi Layout playground (18), NES Compound playground (17), plus a scattering of 1–8 shop grounds at Kammanahalli, NGF, Hoysala, JP Park, Chikkalalbagh, Chennammanakere Achukattu, Bhashyam Circle, ACS, Anandnagar, Varthur Junior College, ITI, Ashoknagar, Whitefield, Pottery Town, Jayamahal, Police Quarters, Venkatala, Sahakarnagar, Chikka Muniyappa Garden, Vyalikaval, Vengayyana Kere, Lions Club and Silver Jubilee Park.
Between all of these, most of the city has something within a ten-minute auto ride.
If something goes wrong — who to call
Deepavali is a wonderful week, but it's also the week the city's burn wards fill up. Keep these numbers somewhere you'll find them without thinking.
The one number to remember: 112. The Unified Emergency Response System handles police, fire and ambulance in one call.
Fire: 101. Fire stations across Bengaluru — High Grounds, Domlur, Yelahanka, Banashankari, Whitefield, Peenya — all keep extra staff on duty through Deepavali week. The Deputy Director (Technical) of Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services personally inspects all 70 grounds before any licence is issued.
Hospitals with burn wards ready
- Victoria Hospital on KR Road, near KR Market — the city's main tertiary burn-care centre. It handles 50+ burn cases every Deepavali, and keeps extra beds and doctors on call through the week.
- St John's Medical College Hospital in Koramangala — handles both burns and the respiratory cases that spike every year.
- Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology on Bannerghatta Road — for cardiac issues triggered by smoke.
- NIMHANS — for respiratory distress.
- KC General Hospital, Malleshwaram.
- Bowring Hospital, Shivajinagar.
If an animal is hurt
The noise and smoke hit street animals hard. These are the organisations to reach out to:
- CARE (Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre) — visit carecharlies.org — for street dogs and cats injured by noise or burns.
- CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action) — visit cupabangalore.org.
- BBMP Animal Helpline — visit bbmp.gov.in — for stray animal rescue during Deepavali.
If you want to report an illegal shop or a violation
Call 112, or walk into your nearest police station. The Bengaluru City Police Commissioner's office on Infantry Road runs the whole temporary-licence lottery system, and the patrols that enforce the 8 pm–10 pm bursting window in residential layouts. They also set up check posts at Attibele Toll Plaza and the Anekal border to intercept non-green, high-decibel crackers coming in from outside the city.
What each department actually does (so you know who's responsible for what)
It's easy to forget, in the middle of the festivities, just how many moving parts make Deepavali week work in a city of 13 million. Here's the quiet machinery, department by department.
BBMP identifies the 70 playgrounds, shares the list with the Police Commissioner, and instructs zonal officials to find safe grounds. After Deepavali, it makes sure retailers vacate the playgrounds the very next day and clean up. On the morning after, it deploys Pourakarmikas for extra waste collection — with a separate pickup for burnt cracker waste, so it doesn't mix with wet waste and contaminate the composting stream.
KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) monitors air quality at ten stations across the city. It issues the advisory that most of us already know by heart — green crackers only, 8 pm to 10 pm bursting window, silence zones within 100 metres of hospitals, nursing homes, schools and courts. It also publishes the official silence-zone list. Fair warning: the city's AQI typically jumps from around 80 to 250+ on Deepavali night.
Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services inspects every one of the 70 grounds. Approach road, three-metre gaps, 50 metres from protected buildings, non-flammable sheds, master switch — all checked. Station officers are deployed near the big grounds (Malleshwaram, JP Nagar) and extra water tenders stay ready on the night itself.
Bengaluru City Police handles the lottery for the ~430 temporary licences from a pool of 5,000+ applications. Applicants pay a ₹2,000 demand draft for the Fire Department and ₹1,000 for the Police, and submit an affidavit, address proof and passport photos. During Deepavali week, extra patrols walk the residential layouts between 8 pm and 10 pm — the legal bursting window.
BMRCL (Namma Metro) bans firecrackers and explosives inside stations and trains, with a fine of up to ₹5,000. Expect very heavy foot traffic at Chickpet and Majestic interchanges (Purple Line and Green Line) during the shopping week — extra security is deployed at Chickpet. If you're heading to the Mamulpet/Chickpet wholesale shops, go early in the day.
BMTC bans firecrackers as inflammable material on all buses. It also runs extra buses toward KR Market, Majestic, Gandhi Bazaar and Malleshwaram during the shopping week — because that's where everyone is going.
BESCOM checks the temporary electrical connections at all 70 grounds — fixed wiring, not flexible wire; switches rigidly mounted to walls. It also inspects the permanent shops in Chickpet for sealed wiring.
PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation) — through its South Circle office in Chennai and Mangalore Sub Circle — issues the year-round LE-5 licences. Every permanent shop is inspected for brick/stone/concrete construction, ground-floor independent entrance with emergency exit, 9 to 25 square metre storage, and spark-proof receptacles. Licences renew every three years. Shops aren't required to display the licence, but you're entitled to ask to see a copy — and if you're spending serious money on crackers, it's worth asking.
The Health Department keeps Victoria and the other government hospitals' burn wards ready, with extra beds and doctors on call through Deepavali week.
A few practical notes before you head out
- The bursting window is 8 pm to 10 pm. Everything outside that is technically illegal, and police patrols do enforce it in residential areas.
- Green crackers only. The high-decibel, non-green stuff coming in from Tamil Nadu is exactly what the Attibele and Anekal check posts exist to intercept.
- The 15–20 permanent shops are your safest bet if you want to buy from someone who's been doing this for decades — and Sri Shivanand Stores in Mamulpet has been at it since 1935.
- For the temporary grounds, go early. The big ones (Malleshwaram, JP Nagar, Rajajinagar) get crowded from around 5 pm onward.
- Metro where you can. Chickpet, Majestic, Malleshwaram, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar and Magadi Road all have stations within a short walk of the main shops or grounds.
However you're spending the week — lighting diyas on the balcony, arguing with cousins about which chakri spins longest, or quietly avoiding the whole thing with a book and a cup of chai — have a good Deepavali, Bengaluru. Stay safe, keep it green, and remember the number 112.
The AQI is going to spike, the roads are going to be chaos, and the city is going to smell faintly of sulphur for about forty-eight hours. That's just Bengaluru in November.