From Taboo To Trend: Expert Shares Why Young Indians Are Turning To Sugar Dating

Most conversations about sugar dating tend to orbit two poles. Either it is exploitation hiding behind the language of mutual agreement, or it is a bold, modern choice that adults have every right to make. Both of these takes are too simple, as sugar dating in India is better understood as a coping behaviour, something people turn to when the pressure of daily life builds up, and the usual ways of managing it are not enough, and coping behaviours do not come from bad character. They stem from unmet needs and a system that does not provide enough alternatives. That shift in how we see it changes almost everything about how we should respond.

Here are a few points to consider as shared by Dr Chandni Tugnait,  MD (A.M) Psychotherapist, Life Alchemist, Coach & Healer, Founder & Director, Gateway of Healing:

● The psychology behind it: When someone is under sustained financial pressure, stress, and uncertainty about their future, they naturally move toward whatever offers the fastest sense of relief. For many young people in Indian cities, a sugar dating arrangement provides exactly that. Not deep happiness, and not the kind of connection most people ultimately want, but the specific, immediate relief of a real problem being solved, like rent covered, fees paid, etc. 

● The hidden cost: There is a dimension of sugar dating in India that almost never gets discussed, which is what it does to a person psychologically when they have to hide it. In a country where family opinion, social reputation, and community standing still carry enormous weight, most participants lead two entirely separate lives. Presenting one version of yourself publicly while living a completely different reality privately is genuinely exhausting. Over time, it chips away at a person’s sense of who they are, makes them less trusting of their own instincts, and creates a background level of stress that never fully goes away. 

● The role of social media: Something specific has happened to a generation of young Indians who grew up with social media. The gap between the life they see online and the life their income actually allows no longer feels like a distant aspiration. It feels urgent, personal, and like something they are failing at. Sugar dating platforms understand this gap extremely well. Their entire appeal is built around it. They offer a shortcut between what someone has and what they feel they should have, and that shortcut looks very attractive when the standard routes, hard work, patience, and slow progress feel like they are not moving fast enough. 

Sugar dating in India will not go away because people decide to be more responsible or more traditional. It will only become less common when the conditions driving it genuinely change; when cities are liveable on ordinary incomes, when young people have enough real options that unconventional ones feel less necessary, and when the pressure to look successful online is no longer treated as a substitute for actually being financially secure. Until that changes, the least we can do is stop treating the people caught in this as a problem to be judged and start treating them as people who deserve better options than those currently available to them.

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