I still remember the good old days when a gift could begin and end with an Archies card.
On a birthday, anniversary or any other special occasion, giving someone a card was an occasion in itself. You would walk into an Archies store, stand there flipping through dozens of cards, read the messages inside, reject a few because they sounded too cheesy, and finally pick the one that somehow said what you wanted to say.
A few carefully chosen words in your own handwriting could make the card feel more personal. The card wasn’t just paper. It carried a thought, an emotion and, quite literally, a piece of you.
Today, that I grew up in the 1980s, when birthday gifts were considerably simpler.
A pencil box. A water bottle. A toy bought from the neighbourhood shop. A board game. If you were particularly lucky, perhaps a Barbie doll, a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toy or a G.I. Joe.
And when friends couldn’t quite decide what to buy, there was always the good old shagun ka envelope. Rs 101 had a certain charm.
Nobody asked which brand the gift belonged to. Nobody checked its price online. And nobody wondered whether it would look good on Instagram.
A gift was simply something useful, something fun or something that made the birthday child happy.
Which is why a recent conversation with my teenage daughter left me staring at the ceiling for a few seconds.
I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. I thought I was being generous and practical, so I offered her a fairly respectable menu: a wristwatch, shoes, clothes, perhaps a
Her answer came almost instantly: shoes.
“Which ones?” I asked.
“Air Jordans,” came the reply. “I already have plenty of shoes, but you can gift me Air Jordans. I can flaunt them in front of my friends. Even they have these shoes.”
My eyes rolled.
My first thought was: Air Jordans?
My second was: Maine toh kabhi Rs 5,000 se zyada ke joote nahi pehne (I’ve never owned a pair of shoes that cost more than Rs 5,000).
And here was my child casually suggesting sneakers that could cost Rs 11,000- 15,000 or even more.
That little conversation perhaps tells the story of India’s changing gifting culture better than any market report could.
My daughter wasn’t simply asking for a pair of shoes. She knew the brand, she knew the product and, importantly, she knew what it represented within her social circle.
The gift had become more than an object. It had become a statement.
And this isn’t just my daughter’s story. A friend recently told me that she gifted her daughter an iPhone when she turned 13.
The birthday wish list today can sometimes look less like a child’s fantasy and more like a carefully curated shopping cart: smartphones, wireless earbuds, gaming accessories, branded sneakers, smartwatches, musical instruments and lifestyle products.
But it isn’t simply about children becoming more demanding.
It is because the India they are growing up in is very different from the one we knew.
Birthdays are only one part of the story.
My memories of Diwali gifting are perhaps even more telling.
When I was young, my mother and the neighbourhood aunties would exchange plates of homemade sweets. One house would send laddoos, another would send namkeen, someone would prepare something special at home, and the plates would travel from one house to another.
There was no elaborate packaging. No curated assortment. No premium box designed for an unboxing video.
The exchange itself was the point.
Then, slowly, the plate disappeared.
Homemade sweets gave way to mithai boxes.
Mithai boxes were followed by dry-fruit boxes.
And today, Diwali gifting has moved into the world of curated hampers.
Gourmet chocolates, artisanal foods, premium dry fruits, candles, teas, coffees, beauty products and personalised merchandise now arrive in carefully designed boxes.
The humble Diwali plate has effectively become a lifestyle box.
Yet, beneath all that packaging, the basic instinct remains remarkably familiar. We still want to give someone something that makes them feel special.
What has changed is what we can afford to give, and what we now consider special.
That shift is rooted in a much bigger transformation in the Indian economy and in the way Indians consume.
India’s gifting story is, in many ways, also the story of India’s rising purchasing power.
The post-liberalisation years opened the country to a wider world of products, brands and lifestyles. As incomes rose and the middle class expanded, an increasingly affluent consumer base emerged, particularly in urban India.
For households that once had to prioritise essentials, higher disposable incomes created room for discretionary spending. Consumer aspirations moved beyond televisions, refrigerators and scooters to holidays, smartphones, branded clothing, dining out and experiences.
Gifting followed the same trajectory.
As Indians became more comfortable spending on themselves, they also became more willing to spend on others. The question gradually shifted from Can I afford to give a gift? to What would this person actually like?
Global brands, malls and organised retail widened the choices available. Advertising introduced new aspirations, while e-commerce eventually put much of the world’s merchandise within a few clicks.
The neighbourhood shop was no longer the boundary of what we could imagine gifting.
A gift could now be premium, branded and aspirational. It could reflect the recipient’s personality, lifestyle and taste.
Tarun Joshi, Founder and CEO of IGP, describes this shift as a move from standardised, occasion-led gifting to a more personalised and experience-driven culture.
“India’s gifting culture has evolved from being largely occasion-led and standardised to becoming far more personalised, expressive and experience-driven.”
That evolution is visible in the products themselves. Greeting cards, chocolates and photo frames haven’t disappeared; they now compete for attention with personalised merchandise, curated hampers, flowers, gourmet offerings, premium experiences and lifestyle products.
And as the range of choices expanded, consumers also began expecting more from what they spent.
The rise in incomes has changed not just the size of the gifting budget, but also what consumers expect from a gift.
Comparable India-wide data across occasions is limited, but industry observations point to a clear rise in spending. Gaurav Bhagat, Founder and Managing Director of Consortium Gifts, says gifting budgets that once typically ranged from Rs 500- 1,500 have moved towards Rs 1,500- Rs 4,000 or even Rs 4,500, depending on the occasion and relationship.
But the more interesting change is what consumers expect in return for that money.
“What is particularly interesting is that gifting today is no longer just about ‘what can I give?’ but ‘what will the recipient actually use?'” Bhagat says.
That explains the growing appeal of electronics, premium fashion, travel accessories, lifestyle products, experiences and curated hampers.
Joshi says personalisation and premium curation are among the most interesting growth areas in gifting today, with consumers increasingly choosing combinations of flowers, cakes, keepsakes and gourmet products.
The gift is no longer necessarily one object.
It can be a carefully assembled collection. It can be personalised. It can even be an experience.
And as gifts became more aspirational and more carefully chosen, another force began influencing what people wanted to give, and what they wanted others to see.
When I was growing up, if you received a gift, perhaps a few friends saw it.
Today, a gift can have an audience.
The packaging can be photographed. The unboxing can be filmed. The brand can be displayed. The moment can be shared, reposted and commented upon.
For teenagers and young adults, gifting has acquired another layer: visibility.
Bhagat says social media have made presentation and the “wow” factor is increasingly important among younger consumers. “The question is increasingly not just ‘What should I gift?’ but also ‘How will it look on my feed, and can it be shared or reshared?'”
That helps explain my daughter’s Air Jordan request.
Peer influence isn’t new. Children have always wanted what their friends had.
But social media have amplified it.
A pair of sneakers seen on an influencer, a gadget being used by friends or a beauty product trending online can move almost instantly from something a teenager has never heard of to something they absolutely “need”.
The aspiration is no longer limited by what is available at the neighbourhood shop.
The entire world is now a catalogue.
The same technology that expanded what people could want also changed how quickly they could buy it.
E-commerce has made it possible to discover, compare, personalise and send gifts across cities with a few taps. Quick commerce has pushed that expectation further, turning last-minute gifting into an almost effortless exercise.
Bhagat says technology has made gifting more convenient, spontaneous and frequent, with consumers increasingly buying gifts even outside traditional occasions.
“The larger shift is towards frequency and spontaneity: gifting is no longer restricted to planned occasions, with consumers increasingly making impulse purchases or sending something simply because they feel like it.”
Joshi, however, points out that speed cannot replace sentiment.
“Convenience matters, but the product still needs to feel thoughtful and relevant.”
That may be the most important distinction in the new gifting economy: consumers want the convenience of instant commerce without losing the feeling that someone actually thought about the gift.
As gifting habits have changed, the industry built around them has expanded too.
What was once largely greeting cards, sweets, chocolates, flowers and a handful of corporate gifts now spans food, fashion, electronics, experiences, vouchers, lifestyle products and curated hampers.
That broadening of the category is also why estimates of the gifting market vary sharply.
Joshi says, “India’s gifting market was valued at $75.16 billion in 2024, approximately Rs 6.2 lakh crore, and is projected to reach $92.32 billion, or roughly Rs 7.7 lakh crore, by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 3.55%.”
“Beyond market growth, however, this reflects a broader shift in consumer habits. The new-age consumer is increasingly willing to spend on experiences, self-expression and meaningful moments, rather than viewing spending primarily through the lens of saving,” he adds.
The numbers matter, but perhaps the bigger story is what sits behind them: gifting is no longer confined to a handful of traditional categories. It has become part of a much broader consumption story.
The next phase of gifting may be less about choosing between premium and personal and more about combining the two.
Joshi expects AI and data to help brands understand preferences and curate products and experiences around individual relationships and occasions.
Bhagat sees technology enabling hyper-personalisation through print-on-demand, lower minimum order quantities and even one-piece customisation.
In other words, technology could make premium gifts more personal, and personalisation more accessible.
Perhaps that is why I don’t really want to dismiss my daughter’s Air Jordans as an example of how “kids these days” have become extravagant.
Her world is simply different from mine.
I grew up in an India where an Archies card could be enough, where Rs 100 in an envelope felt generous and where birthday presents came from the neighbourhood shop.
She is growing up in an India where global brands are a click away, where purchasing power is higher and where social media constantly introduces her to new products, brands and aspirations.
My Diwali memories involve homemade sweets exchanged on steel plates.
Her generation may receive a beautifully curated hamper delivered to the doorstep.
Both are gifts.
Both carry emotion.
Only the form has changed.
And perhaps that is the real story of India’s gifting culture.
From Archies cards to Air Jordans, the gift has become bigger, smarter, more expensive and more aspirational. But the reason we give it remains remarkably old-fashioned.
We still want to make someone feel special.
Even if, these days, that feeling comes wrapped in a much more expensive package.
Because beneath all the brands, packaging, technology and social-media appeal, the question behind every gift remains the same:
Will they like it?