Published: [November 1, 2026]
StartupFeed Quick Take
- Gen Z gifting still runs through family: 74% of young Indians buy festive gifts for parents and family.
- 25% now use AI for gift ideas, ahead of marketplace tips at 21% and behind online search at 41%.
- AI gift search peaks in Madhya Pradesh at 32% and Bihar at 30%, both above the 25% national rate.
A Rukam Capital-YouGov study shows one in four Indian Gen Z shoppers now asks an AI tool what to gift this Diwali.
Family still wins. 74% of these shoppers buy for parents and family, well ahead of friends or partners. Family expectations also push the most overspending.
Three in four do not use AI at all. Online search leads gift ideas at 41%. Personal judgement is close behind at 39%.
The study covered 4,002 people aged 18 to 29 across 18 states. It was published on September 24, 2026.
AI Has Already Passed Marketplace Tips for Gift Ideas
AI now beats marketplace recommendations as a source of Gen Z gift ideas, at 25% against 21%.
That gap is small. It is also new. A marketplace suggestion engine has years of purchase data behind it.
Creators move less than founders assume. Social media and creators drove discovery for 29% of Gen Z. Only 6% bought straight after a creator post.
Trust sits with the buyer’s own work. Nearly 60% use AI to check a product before buying. 70% are comfortable with AI suggesting products.
Almost half go further. 49% would let AI decide without their approval. For a brand, that means the product page is now read by a machine first.
AI use goes well past shopping. 66% use or would use AI for health decisions. 63% would use it for career advice.
Archana Jahagirdar, who runs Rukam Capital, put it this way:
“Gen Z places the highest trust in its own research”
Archana Jahagirdar, founder and managing partner, Rukam Capital. From her signed column in afaqs!, October 2026.
Here is where Gen Z looks for festive gift ideas.
| Where Gen Z finds festive gift ideas | Share of young Indians surveyed |
|---|---|
| Online search | 41% |
| Own judgement | 39% |
| Friends and family | 34% |
| AI tools | 25% |
| Marketplace recommendations | 21% |
What Does Gen Z Gifting Look Like Outside the Metros?
AI gift search is strongest in Madhya Pradesh at 32% and Bihar at 30%, both above the national 25%.
Social media does the same job in the east and south. In Bihar, 37% use it for gift ideas. Kerala and Telangana follow at 31% each.
Both states that lead on AI gift search sit outside the metro belt. Founders usually test new channels in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru first. On this one measure, that order is wrong.
What people buy also shifts by state. Food topped the Bihar list at 59%, with fashion at 51%. Food took 56% of festive purchases in Telangana.
Jewellery gifting hit 38% in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Cash was the popular pick in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh and Odisha leaned towards personalised presents.
Discounts moved 29% of these buyers. Emotional pull moved 28%. In Telangana that emotional figure rose to 35%.
Self-Gifting and Healthy Snacks Widen the Festive Basket
Gen Z now buys gifts for itself. 30% reported self-gifting this festive season. That is a line item most gifting catalogues still do not carry.
Health is the second shift. 50% of young buyers showed a preference for healthy snacking. Sweets and dry fruits now compete with protein bars and baked snacks.
Food and fashion led festive spending nationally, at 49% each. Quality drove 51% of purchase decisions. Price drove 49%. Reviews and trends came well behind both.
Honesty matters more than polish. 82% expect brands to be open and honest. Around 30% said influencer overuse and forced slang put them off.
Spending is up but not reckless. 60% spend more during festivals. Roughly four in ten mix planning with spontaneity.
What Founders Should Fix Before Dhanteras on 6 November
Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8, 2026, and Dhanteras on Friday, November 6, which leaves a short selling window.
The first job is the product page. If a quarter of buyers ask a chatbot, the page needs plain text facts: size, weight, price, who it suits.
The second job is stock depth beyond metros. Madhya Pradesh and Bihar lead on AI gift search. Dark store coverage there is thinner than in Delhi or Mumbai.
Quick commerce carries the last-minute buy. IGP expects 15% to 20% of its festive sales to come from quick commerce. The rest sits with planned orders and hampers.
The third job is a self-gift SKU. Three in ten young buyers are shopping for themselves. Few festive hampers are built for one person.
Prices and offers still close the sale. 29% of buyers were moved by discounts. Plan the markdown before the week of November 6, not during it.
What this means for you: If you sell giftable products in India, a quarter of your Gen Z buyers are asking a chatbot what to pick. Rewrite your top 10 product pages in plain, factual text and get stock into non-metro dark stores before November 6.
StartupFeed Insight
The number that should worry a founder is 21%, not 25%. Marketplace suggestion engines have years of purchase data behind them. A general chatbot has none of that, and it is already ahead for gift ideas. That means the ranking signal has moved from the marketplace to the open web and the product page itself. Watch Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, where AI gift search runs 7 and 5 points above the national rate. By the 2027 festive season, expect one large Indian gifting brand to publish a product feed built for chatbots, not for search crawlers.
By Saraswati Chaubey, Writer
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