DNA Special: Gift-giving in modern age and how it has changed over the years

Oftentimes, people give gifts to each other on special occasions and you must also have given a gift to someone at some time or the other. And what are these gifts - flowers, chocolates, gift cards or teddy bears. There is also a tradition of gifting gold in our country. You may have noticed that gold is often given as a gift at weddings. That is, the tradition of taking and giving gifts in society has been going on for a long time. And in India, people also associate it with their pride.

But now this trend of gifts has changed. And now, instead of flowers and chocolates, people are giving each other shares of big companies i.e. stocks. And its practice in South Korea has increased a lot. These days in South Korea, couples are giving 'Blue Chip stocks' as gifts.

What are Blue Chip Stocks?

Blue chip stocks mean shares of companies that have been in the market for a long time. These are the companies that are continuously making profits for their shareholders. Apart from this, it is also believed that in order to be called Blue Chip Stocks, the net value of any company should be more than 5 billion dollars i.e. 38 thousand crore rupees. That is, these are big companies and their stocks are also very expensive, so people in South Korea are giving each other Blue Chip Stocks as a gift.

In the last 5 months, Shinhan Investment Bank of South Korea has sold 20,000 stocks as gift cards. Apart from this, a South Korean company K.B. Securities have sold 34 lakh such gift cards in the last 20 days.

Among the companies with the highest demand for stocks, the US company Tesla ranks first, with CEO Elon Musk. Apart from Tesla, shares of Apple, Starbucks and Netflix are also very popular.

One stock gift card from Apple is 22 dollars i.e. around 1700 rupees, while the cost of a stock gift card of Tesla is around 22 dollars i.e. 2000 rupees. Apart from this, if someone wants to give a gift card of Starbucks Stocks to someone, then they have to spend as much money as a Starbucks Cup Coffee.

Earlier, people used to give gold as a gift because they knew that the price of gold will increase in future and this gold will be useful in difficult times. And in South Korea, couples are also gifting stocks to each other with this thinking only. Because their price is more likely to grow in the future.

However, this change did not take place in a day. After the year 2000, when the use of the Internet in the whole world increased significantly, since then people changed the way of giving gifts. Today, you can send any gifts to your partner in any state or country through the Internet sitting at home. Online vouchers can be given as gifts and flowers and chocolates can also be ordered online for them.

The practice of Stock Gift Cards also started in a similar way. In the year 2017, on Christmas, America's famous model Kim Kardashian was given shares of Amazon, Apple, Disney and Netflix as gifts by her former husband Kayne West. After this, the trend of giving in stock gifts started and today it has become a big market in many countries.

However, the history of giving gifts is quite interesting.

In ancient times, humans used to give each other animal teeth, precious metals or shiny stones as gifts. At that time, gifts were presented to each other in the form of love. But later this trend changed and man changed the rules of gifting and its definition. Today's bitter truth is that people give gifts to each other for their benefit and also as bribes.

Nearly two and a half thousand years from today, Iraq's King Nebuchadnezzar II had built the Hanging Garden of Babylon for his wife.

In the 16th century, a prized fountain was gifted to King Henry Eight by Queen Anne Bohlin of England. This fountain was inlaid with diamond jewels then.

Mumbai city, which used to be Bombay earlier, was gifted to the British by Portugal. In the year 1534, Portugal captured seven islands of Mumbai. However, by then it had not become a city but a group of several islands.

In the 16th century, the British tried hard to capture it but they were never successful. However, when King Charles two of Britain was married to Catherine, the daughter of the King of Portugal at that time, Portugal gifted the Seven Islands of Bombay to Britain on 11 May 1661. This gift was also given the name of dowry.

However, the most valuable gift in the world is still the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was completed in the year 1648. And then the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan dedicated the Taj Mahal to his wife as a gift in her memory.

It was said in a study that we give gifts so that we can make our people realize how important they are to us. Gifts not only strengthen true feelings towards each other, but they also boost the economy.

The worldwide gifting market has a turnover of 698 billion dollars i.e. 52 lakh crore rupees and India is a big market for companies in this field. It is estimated that by 2025, the turnover of the gifting market in India will be 159 million dollars i.e. 1152 crore rupees.