From Employee Recognition to Partner Loyalty: The Expanding Role of Corporate Gifting in India

A brand is built through more than advertising. It is shaped by the employees who deliver on its promise. Distributors, dealers and retailers shape it too, as they take its products to customers. Corporate gifting is one way businesses recognise these relationships. Yet, it often remains focused on employees and festive occasions.

Gifting can do more than express appreciation. It works best when it is relevant and timely. It also needs a clear objective to measure against. Done well, it can strengthen relationships a business relies on.

To understand how companies approach this opportunity, Pluxee surveyed 430 professionals in its study, The Landscape of Corporate Gifting in India. The findings point to a clear gap. While employee gifting is well established, fewer companies extend the same level of attention to the business partners who help take their products/offerings to market.

Employee recognition is established. Timing can improve.

Recognition matters, but how and when it is delivered matters too.

Pluxee’s study found that 83% of organisations gift their on-roll employees, and HR typically leads these programmes. This suggests that employee gifting is already an established practice. The opportunity is to make it more purposeful.

Much of gifting still follows the calendar: Diwali, year-end or another annual occasion. These moments will remain important, but recognition can have greater relevance when it is closer to the achievement it celebrates. A reward given soon after a project is delivered, for example, can make the connection between effort and appreciation clearer than one received months later.

The opportunity beyond the organisation

The picture changes when it comes to business partners. Pluxee’s study found that only 21% of companies gift business partners, while just 17% gift channel partners.

This gap matters. Distributors, dealers and retailers are often the people who translate a brand’s plans into a customer experience. They influence product visibility, availability and, in many cases, the final purchase decision. Recognising these partners is not a substitute for a strong product or a sound commercial relationship, but it can be one way to show that their contribution is valued.

Partner gifting also draws senior attention. In 46% of organisations, senior management leads decisions on partner gifting. That involvement points to the growing strategic importance being given to these relationships.

From festive occasions to business milestones

Partner gifting remains closely tied to festivals: 66% of companies in the study said they gift partners during major festivals. That tradition is unlikely to disappear, nor should it. But companies are also using gifting around business milestones, product launches and sales campaigns.

This creates an opportunity to connect recognition to a specific business moment. A reward after a milestone or campaign can acknowledge a contribution while the achievement is still fresh. The objective should be clear from the start, whether it is to recognise performance, encourage participation or build a longer-term partner relationship.

Execution matters too, particularly when partner networks span many locations and decisions are made at short notice. The study found that 49% of companies prefer a mix of physical and digital gifting. A hybrid approach can combine the personal touch of a physical gift with the speed and flexibility of digital options, while giving recipients more choice. A Tier 3 town, for instance, can receive a digital reward without waiting for a courier. The format should follow the purpose of the programme and the needs of its recipients.

Measure gifting with the same discipline as marketing

Measurement is one of the clearest gaps. The study found that 24% of companies do not formally measure their gifting programmes, while only 9% track their impact on brand loyalty.

Marketing teams would rarely launch a campaign without defining what success looks like. Gifting deserves the same discipline. Before a programme begins, companies should be clear about the outcome they want to influence and how they will assess it.

For employee gifting, that might include participation, feedback or redemption. For channel partners, it could include participation in a campaign, repeat orders or sell-through, depending on the program’s objective and the data available. These measures will not prove that gifting alone caused a business result, but they can help companies understand what is working, where participation is low and what should change next time.

Measurement also helps businesses distinguish a well-intentioned gesture from a programme that is relevant, well executed and worth repeating.

Also read: Factory Seconds and the Business of Making Aspirational Brands More Accessible

Make recognition more intentional

India’s gifting culture gives businesses a strong foundation: the act of saying thank you is already familiar. The next step is to be more deliberate. That means being clear on who is recognised, when and why. 

In practice, this involves three shifts:

• Look beyond employees to include the partners who take the products/offerings to market
• Recognise contributions throughout the year, not only at festivals
• Evaluate gifting with the same care as other business investments

The festive hamper will always have its place. But corporate gifting can play a broader role when it is designed around the people and relationships a business depends on. The opportunity is not to turn every gift into a transaction. It is to make recognition more relevant and to understand whether it is strengthening the relationships it was meant to support.

– Written by Harish Sarma, Marketing & Product Director at Pluxee India, he brings over 17 years of experience in marketing, product innovation, strategic planning, and business growth across B2B and B2C environments. An alumnus of IIM Calcutta and NIT Durgapur, Harish has held key roles at Accenture, ITC, Idea Cellular, and Snapdeal, and has been instrumental in strengthening Pluxee’s brand identity and digital benefits platform. His work focuses on building future-ready solutions across payments, fintech, and the employee experience ecosystem.