India’s second-largest public sector bank enters the festive rush with a fresh digital gifting solution and wide seasonal offers

How do people send gifts during Diwali in 2025? Instead of cash-filled envelopes or gift cards, Bank of Baroda wants customers to use prepaid digital vouchers. The bank has rolled out Bank of Baroda festive season digital offers with a new eRUPI Person-to-Person gifting option through its UPI app.

The launch comes when India is witnessing record-breaking growth in digital transactions. The Ministry of Finance reported that total digital payments touched 18,736 crore transactions in FY 2023-24, up from just 2,071 crore in FY 2017-18.

Fresh Launch: Bank of Baroda Online Gifting Solutions

The bank’s new offer introduces digital vouchers that can be created and sent through the BoB UPI app. The vouchers are prepaid and purpose-based, making them suitable for festive gifting. Customers can choose the voucher, personalise it, and transfer it instantly.

This development sits alongside the bank’s larger set of offers during the festival months. These include shopping tie-ups, card-linked cashback, and dining discounts. The effort is targeted at younger urban customers and also middle-class households that are adopting digital payment methods.

Here is a comparison of the new scheme with earlier gifting formats.

Feature	Bank of Baroda Digital Gifting	Virtual Gift Card (Existing)	Traditional Gift Card
Channel	UPI app voucher	RuPay powered online card	Plastic or paper card
Personalisation	Purpose-based voucher	Limited scope	Limited scope
Accessibility	Instant UPI transfer	Online merchants only	Merchant restricted
Validity	Bank terms	One year	Varies by issuer

The difference is in speed and ease. Instead of waiting for delivery or activating a prepaid card, the voucher is created and used instantly.

How Indian Festivals Fuel Spending and Digital Payment Adoption

Festivals in India bring higher spending across food, apparel, jewellery, and electronics. Banks try to link their promotions to this surge. Digital gifting, cashback, and card rewards are examples of such linkages. The term digital gifting means prepaid, non-cash substitutes that can be sent and redeemed electronically. Unlike cash or paper-based coupons, they move entirely through secure digital channels.

The Bank of Baroda online gifting solutions arrive at a time when UPI dominates the payment market.

A report titled Growth of Various Modes of Digital Payment (2017-18 to 2023-24) from the Department of Financial Services highlights this rise. UPI transactions grew from 92 crore in FY 2017-18 to 13,116 crore in FY 2023-24, which equals a compound annual growth rate of 129 percent.

Here is a snapshot of the figures:

Year	UPI Transactions (crore)	Total Digital Payments (crore)
FY 2017-18	92	2,071
FY 2023-24	13,116	18,736

These numbers show why banks are shifting focus. The market already accepts UPI as a daily habit. Adding gifting into the mix is a way to capture festive spending.

Linking With Past Coverage Of BoB Campaigns

Bank of Baroda has long used festivals as a platform to promote banking products. For example, the BOB Eterna Credit Card page mentions up to 5% cashback on select purchases including travel, shopping, and lifestyle spends. LoansJagat

In 2025, this festival-mode push appears to be expanding beyond pure financial products. The bank’s debit card offerings include discounts/cashback on travel platforms (like EaseMyTrip) and other lifestyle categories.

Instead of focusing only on loans, deposits, and card transactions, the newer schemes touch on lifestyle and social gifting, making the campaign more holistic and consumer-oriented.

Here is a look at the campaigns across years.

Year	Campaign	Primary Focus
2,023	BOB Ke Sang Tyohaar Ki Umang	Loans, deposits, card offers
2025	Digital Gifting & Festive Season Deals	Digital vouchers, festive cashback

This comparison shows a gradual change in strategy. Earlier campaigns leaned on financing, while the latest one adds a cultural and lifestyle aspect.

How Government And Banks Responded Over Time

Digital adoption in India is not a sudden event. The Reserve Bank of India has been measuring progress through the Digital Payments Index. This index stood at 465.33 in September 2024, compared to the base of 100 in March 2018. The Payments Infrastructure Development Fund also added 4.77 crore touchpoints across smaller cities and rural belts by May 2025, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Banks are now using this environment to create offers such as Bank of Baroda holiday shopping discounts and other digital promotions. Earlier efforts by banks were centred on credit card rewards or debit card discounts. The current push is wider, linking to prepaid digital vouchers, UPI apps, and cashback.

The following table compares how priorities have changed.

Aspect	Past Approach	Present Approach
RBI Focus	Promote cashless transactions	Improve security and coverage
Finance Ministry	Increase transaction volume	Support P2P vouchers and digital schemes
Banks	Push credit or debit cards	Expand digital gifting and cashback

The shift reflects how public policy and bank strategy are aligned. Regulators are improving infrastructure while banks are building customer-facing promotions.

Bank Of Baroda Digital Festive Promotions: Future Path

The festive market is already crowded with private banks offering cashback, EMI holidays, and merchant tie-ups. Bank of Baroda has tried to stand out by combining emotion and convenience in one product. Digital gifting through UPI vouchers fits cultural traditions while staying modern.

The questions that remain are about reach and adoption. Will the vouchers be used widely across smaller towns? Will customers prefer them over existing gift cards? And how many merchants will accept them? These are open points.

Still, the mix of cultural relevance and technology makes the scheme interesting. By blending emotion, convenience, and policy direction, Bank of Baroda digital festive promotions may set a new path for seasonal campaigns in public sector banking.

Conclusion

Bank of Baroda has added freshness to the festive calendar in 2025. The launch of Bank of Baroda festive season digital offers and vouchers through its UPI app arrives at a time when India’s digital transactions are rising at an unmatched pace.

Backed by government data and supported by wider infrastructure, the bank is betting on a new form of gifting. What began with simple festive loans two years ago has now expanded into digital gifting. The season ahead will show how Indian families respond to this new way of celebrating.

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