Earlier this year, Ashwajeet Kamble, a fresh IIM graduate, withdrew his entire first post-MBA salary in cash and took a flight to Pune. He wanted to place the notes in his parents' hands, the way his father had once handed his own first pay packet to his parents. The video of that moment travelled across social media within days, and thousands of viewers wrote in with memories of their own.
This festive season, a version of that moment is playing out in homes across the country. Many young professionals who joined the workforce in the past year are celebrating with a salary slip in their name for the first time. The gift may be a new appliance for the kitchen, a gold coin or a short holiday. Each one comes with a story about the choice.
A ritual that still holds
Indian families have long marked a first salary with small customs: a box of mithai (sweets) for the neighbours, an envelope placed before the family deity, a phone call home before anything else. Research suggests the custom remains strong among young earners.
The Bharat Lab, a research initiative of Rediffusion and Lucknow University, surveyed 2,125 young earners in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for its "My First Salary" report. It found that 38.8 per cent spent their first salary on gifts, mostly for family members, while 24.5 per cent chose to save it. One in three women in the study bought gold with their first pay.
The festival adds weight to that impulse. Another survey on Diwali 2025, nearly half the respondents (47 per cent) said their main goal for the festival was to strengthen family bonds. Brands have caught on too. A CaratLane advertisement built around a first salary drew a wave of nostalgic replies online, as viewers recalled what they had bought their own parents.
What they chose
The gifts vary, and so do the budgets. What the young earners describe is remarkably similar: a long memory of parents who put them first, and a wish to return some of that care.
For Manya Singh, the choice was a gold coin. "It was a small gesture, but one that meant a lot to me," she says. She grew up watching her parents take care of everything for her, and a gift bought with her own earnings felt special. "My mother, especially, got emotional when I gave it to her." Singh calls it a proud moment of financial independence and "a small way of giving back to the people who have always put me first."
Akshat Gangi, a young professional, says this Diwali felt different because it was one of the first times he could buy something for his parents with his own salary. "I have always seen them take care of my needs before thinking about their own," he says. For him, the value lies in the feeling "that I can give something back to the people I love."
Shree Adya describes the same pull. Her parents fulfilled her wishes, she says, "and never made me think twice about anything." A gift paid for with money she earned herself feels like a small way of giving back. "I think seeing their happiness and knowing that I could make them feel special, even in a small way, would mean more to me than anything else."
Paying for it
An entry-level salary does not stretch far in a city like Mumbai, and the young earners found different ways to make the gift work. Some put aside part of each pay cheque from the month they joined. Some pooled money with a sibling. Many turned to the no-cost EMI offers that run through every festive sale.
That last route has its critics. Financial writers have flagged a growing pile of small monthly instalments among India's Gen Z, with repayments of a few hundred rupees each adding up over a year. For a first-jobber with rent and a commute to cover, a large festive purchase on instalments can stay on the statement long after the diyas (earthen lamps) are packed away.
The price tag is often modest. Sonica Aron, Founder and Managing Partner of Marching Sheep, lists the kind of gifts young earners pick. "It might be a saree their mother admired, a watch their father had been putting off buying, or something as simple as taking the family out for dinner," she says. What changes is the source of the money. "For the first time, the child is giving from money they have earned themselves."
For others, the gift took the form of support at home. Some young earners now pay a household bill, or shop alongside their parents and let them pick what they want.
When the child turns provider
The gift marks a change in the family as much as in the bank account. For two decades, Diwali in most homes ran on the parents' money and the children's wish lists. The first salary reverses that order.
Kumar Rajagopalan, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Country Head India, sees the first festive gift as a moment of recognition. "Young specialists get the first chance to help their families and have a unique taste of financial independence," he says. The act, in his view, signals a new place for the young earner in the household, as a contributor and a voice in family decisions. He adds that the size of the gift matters little. "One does not have to spend a huge amount to make a gift or contribute to the holiday in order to show one's appreciation. The idea counts more than the price."
Dr Kanishk Agrawal, Founder and CEO of Path in AI Technologies, links the first pay cheque to a new sense of duty towards the family. "Diwali gives young employees the chance to show these feelings to their parents in a meaningful way," he says. He notes that the younger generation treats the gift as an expression of gratitude, and that the gesture can open the door to frank family conversations about money, savings and expenses.
Aron points out that parents have a new role to learn as well. "For parents, accepting that gift can be an adjustment too," she says. "They are learning to relate to their children as independent adults, with their own priorities and decisions."
What it meant
For parents, the gift carries a meaning well beyond its price, as Manya Singh saw in her mother's reaction. Kavita Kerawalla, Vice-Chairperson of the VIBGYOR Group of Schools, sees the gesture as proof that lessons from home have stayed with the child. "Gratitude isn't something children learn from being told to say thank you," she says.
"They pick it up by watching how we treat people, how we manage money, and how we show appreciation for what others do for us." The gift, she adds, should come from affection, with no sense of obligation attached. "Sometimes, for a parent, knowing that their child has grown into a thoughtful, responsible adult is a far greater gift than anything money can buy."
When Kamble's video went viral, some of the warmest comments under it came from parents, who saw their own children in the young man with the envelope. The ritual has passed from one generation to the next, and the parents of this year's first-jobbers once stood in the same place. This Diwali, they get to be on the other side of it.
