By Anuradha Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) After a dim Diwali last year due to the economic downturn and an overhang of business uncertainty, the upcoming festival of lights is shining brighter for the $1.2- billion corporate gift market in India.

According to PayPal, the California-based international gateway for online payments, the average Diwali spend among Indians this year is estimated at $213, with household items and health and beauty products topping the popular gift list.

"Despite the weakened economy, Indians are entering into the festive spirit with 45 percent expected to spend more during the upcoming holiday season than they did last year," the company said, based on a survey across South and Southeast Asia.

"Seventy percent of Indians are keen to keep the holiday spirit alive without fail," said the company.

"Indians also appear to be the savviest at online shopping with three quarters intending to shop online during the upcoming festive period, citing time, crowds and access to a wider range of products as the main reasons for avoiding the shops."

According to Jolly Jose, director of eYantra, a Hyderabad-based leader in merchandising and corporate gifts, orders from the corporate sector this year are double, in terms of both volume and value.

"Last year was the year of gloom and the business wasn't so good. But with the economy improving as slowdown has bottomed out, things have really improved a great deal from last year," Jose told IANS.

The company caters to as many as 1,000 corporate houses across the globe, with a client list that includes not just multinationals like Microsoft but also large Indian companies such as Infosys, Wipro, Google, Satyam and Dr. Reddy's Labs.

Industry representatives said there was a 30 percent decline in the Indian market for corporate gifts during the Diwali season last year, which is now seen reviving to its original size of Rs.6,000 crore.

"This time people are looking for more utility-based items than the 'touch and feel' kind of gifts," said Jose. "Household items and home appliances are the most sought after, followed by electronic gadgets. Dry fruits remain popular."

Companies like eYantra maintain that the maximum orders this year were being received from information technology and outsourcing firms followed by those in the automobile industry.

These, they explain, were the ones that had resorted to the maximum cut in their Diwali gift budgets last year.

"Last year was very bad. Orders for dry fruits had gone down by as much as 35 percent. Even the packages ordered were getting smaller," said Sanjay Bhutani of Bharat Dry Fruit Mart in the capital's central business district of Janpath.

"Thank god, the corporate orders are coming back in large numbers this year."

Officials in human resources divisions maintain that companies are also spending more on gifts of their own employees this year - which was a casualty last year because of the uncertain business climate.

"Last year, we were cautious. Employees also understood. But this time we will compensate well. They have expectations," said a senior executive in a human resource department of a large auto company based out of Gurgaon.

"Our growth and bottomline depend on happy employees."