What Indians are searching for during lockdown

The closure of malls and unavailability of ration delivery has pushed consumers to look for chemists and kirana stores around their geographical locations. Owing to this, “near me” searches have seen a massive uptick since March 2020, according to a report by Google India.

Queries like “pharmacy near me” rose by over 58 per cent, while “grocery delivery near me” surged by over 550 per cent, “ration dukaan” by more than 300 per cent, and “vet doctor near me” by over 60 per cent.

“Best” searches, which have consistently seen high growth in India, continue to see a sharp rise despite the current scenario. They included queries like “best movies” (35 per cent) on YouTube and “Best trading platforms” (45 per cent).