Corporate Gifting in India Shifts Beyond Diwali Hampers

Corporate gifting in India is moving beyond traditional Diwali hampers and annual celebrations. Companies are increasingly recognising employees through personalised presents, practical products and shared experiences tied to birthdays, work anniversaries, promotions and professional milestones.

A laptop bag to mark five years at work, a high-end perfume for completing a decade with the same company, an entire cinema theatre booked for teachers on Teachers’ Day, or a plant and a saree presented on a professor’s birthday these gestures show how workplace gifting is becoming more personal.

Although such gifts may not always carry a high price tag, they can leave a lasting impression on employees. The value often lies in the thought behind the gesture and the feeling that their contributions have been noticed.

For Pankaj Verma*, an employee at a multinational company, the opportunity to choose his own gift made work anniversaries particularly meaningful. When he completed five years at the organisation, he received a catalogue of options and selected a branded laptop bag. Five years later, he chose a high-end perfume from another catalogue to mark his decade at the company.

Having the freedom to select something he genuinely liked made the recognition more personal and strengthened his sense of belonging at the organisation.

His experience reflects a wider change in Indian workplaces. Corporate gifting, traditionally associated with festive hampers, annual bonuses and Diwali celebrations, is increasingly becoming a year-round practice. Employers are using gifts to acknowledge individual milestones and create stronger relationships with their teams.

When a Corporate Gift Becomes a Lasting Memory

For PR consultant Asmita Raj Yadav, one of her most memorable workplace gifts arrived on her birthday. Her team at a previous organisation surprised her with a beauty box set and a voucher.

She recalls that the thoughtful gesture made her feel valued and appreciated, reinforcing the idea that recognition at work should extend beyond professional achievements.

Diwali celebrations, however, continue to hold a special place in workplace culture. Yadav remembers receiving practical gifts such as mixers, air fryers and trolley bags, alongside traditional sweets and dry fruits. While she enjoys receiving presents, she finds festive bonuses equally exciting because they allow employees to purchase something of their own choice.

For Neelam Gupta*, a teacher at a school in Delhi-NCR, the most memorable workplace celebration involved an experience shared with colleagues rather than an individual present. On Teachers’ Day, the school organised lunch and booked an entire cinema theatre exclusively for teachers.

The experience made the teachers feel honoured and recognised, demonstrating how shared celebrations can create a sense of appreciation across an entire team.

Lecturer Nidhi Sharma* describes another personal workplace tradition. On birthdays, her department presents professors with a plant and a saree, along with a card personally signed by the dean and other staff members.

For Sharma, the handwritten messages are particularly valuable. They make the present feel less like a routine workplace formality and more like a genuine expression of appreciation from colleagues.

Senior PR consultant Kush Sharma also believes that workplace celebrations help colleagues connect beyond their everyday responsibilities. The excitement surrounding Diwali gifts, exchanging sweets and opening presents together contributes to a shared festive atmosphere.

These experiences highlight an important aspect of corporate gifting: a present becomes memorable when employees feel that someone has put genuine thought into choosing it. Whether it is a personalised hamper, a useful product or a group experience, the emotional value can extend well beyond its monetary cost.

From Diwali Hampers to Year-Round Employee Gifting

Indian companies have traditionally treated festivals, particularly Diwali, as the biggest occasions for corporate gifting. However, employers are increasingly extending the practice to birthdays, onboarding, promotions, work anniversaries, retirement and professional achievements.

Estimates cited in the Indian Gifting Market 2021 placed the country’s overall gifting market at approximately Rs 2.5 lakh crore, with corporate gifting accounting for around Rs 12,000 crore.

The eYantra Corporate Gifting and Trends Report 2022 also highlighted the role of presents in building professional relationships. According to the report, 80% of respondents believed gifts helped strengthen connections with clients and employees, while 88% wanted high-quality, personalised gifts and a wider range of choices.

The report found that festive seasons accounted for 32% of the gifting initiatives covered. Employee onboarding represented 26%, while special occasions, including work anniversaries and company milestones, accounted for 19%. Promotions contributed 8% and retirement celebrations 4%.

These figures illustrate how gifting was being used across different workplace occasions when the survey was conducted. They should not, however, be interpreted as a current measurement of the entire Indian corporate gifting market.

The products companies offer are also changing. Traditional sweets and festive hampers remain popular, but employers are exploring gift cards, vouchers, lifestyle accessories, wellness products, gourmet treats and experiences. The emphasis is increasingly on giving employees something useful, relevant or enjoyable rather than distributing identical presents to everyone.

What Corporate Gifting Companies Are Seeing

The changing approach is also visible in the business of corporate gifting. Companies operating in the sector say organisations are increasingly treating gifts as an employee engagement and relationship-building tool throughout the year, rather than limiting spending to festive seasons.

Tarun Joshi, founder and CEO of IGP, says gifting has become part of how organisations recognise, reward and engage employees across different stages of their professional journeys.

According to Joshi, around 35% of IGP’s corporate orders are concentrated around Diwali, while the remaining 65% come from occasions throughout the year. These figures represent the company’s own order patterns and do not necessarily reflect the distribution of corporate gifting across the wider market.

Birthdays, joining kits, promotions, performance recognition and personal milestones are creating additional opportunities for companies to acknowledge employees. This is also influencing product choices, with personalised items, gourmet treats, wellness products, lifestyle accessories, vouchers and experiences gaining attention.

Gaurav Bhagat, managing director of Consortium Gifts, says corporate gifting has undergone considerable change over the past three to five years. Instead of focusing mainly on festivals and annual milestones, companies are incorporating gifts into different stages of employee and client relationships.

He believes the central question for organisations has shifted from deciding what to give employees during Diwali to identifying the right moment to make someone feel valued.

Bhagat says companies are distributing gifting budgets across onboarding, work anniversaries, promotions, team achievements and personal milestones. They are also paying greater attention to usefulness, personal relevance and timing.

This approach challenges the assumption that a more expensive present necessarily creates greater appreciation. A carefully selected, affordable gift can have more meaning than a costly but generic hamper if it reflects the recipient’s interests or acknowledges a specific contribution.

Why HR Experts Say Gifts Cannot Replace Genuine Recognition

As year-round corporate gifting becomes more common, human resources teams face a broader question: can gifts genuinely improve employees’ connection with their organisation?

Dr Yogish Arora, director and CEO of HR Anexi, believes the timing and thought behind a present matter more than the act of giving itself.

He argues that distributing the same gift to every employee during a festival may show that an organisation has remembered the occasion. However, recognising an individual’s specific contribution at a particular moment can communicate that their work has been noticed.

Arora believes companies need to develop a culture in which appreciation does not depend on a festival, an individual manager or a business owner. This is particularly relevant for family-managed businesses, where Diwali gifts and bonuses have traditionally played an important role in employer-employee relationships.

He also refers to a 2025 study by Great Place To Work India and Vantage Circle, which he says found that only 55% of employees experience the full impact of recognition at work. The finding points to a potential gap between organisations offering recognition and employees actually feeling appreciated.

However, gifting alone cannot solve deeper workplace problems or guarantee employee retention. Presents cannot compensate for inadequate salaries, poor management, limited career opportunities or unfair performance evaluations.

Recognition linked to promotions, performance and professional growth must also be fair and transparent. A gift can strengthen an employee’s sense of belonging, but it is most effective when supported by a workplace culture that consistently values people’s contributions.

What Makes Employees Feel Truly Appreciated?

Employee preferences differ, which means there is no single gift that will make everyone feel equally valued. Some may prefer a bonus or shopping voucher, while others might appreciate a practical product, a shared experience or a handwritten message from their manager.

The experiences of employees such as Yadav, Verma, Gupta and Sharma suggest that meaningful workplace gestures often have one thing in common: they recognise people as individuals rather than treating them as part of a large workforce.

Companies can make gifting more effective by offering choices, considering employee preferences and linking presents to meaningful occasions. At the same time, they need to ensure that recognition remains consistent and fair across departments, roles and levels of seniority.

Simple gestures can also make a difference. A birthday card, a personal appreciation email or a note acknowledging an employee’s contribution may create a stronger impression than an expensive but impersonal present.

Diwali hampers are unlikely to disappear from Indian workplaces. Festivals will continue to be important occasions for companies to celebrate with their employees. But as birthdays, promotions, work anniversaries and professional achievements become part of the gifting calendar, the annual festive present is becoming only one element of a broader approach to employee appreciation.

Ultimately, employees may forget the contents of a gift box. The feeling of being remembered, respected and appreciated can last much longer.