Mumbai, 10 April 2026 – Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, today unveiled the 2026 edition of its India in Search report. Anchored in the theme ‘Search shows the future’, the report decodes India’s evolving cultural, emotional and consumption behaviours through the lens of Google search.
Drawing on hundreds of validated search topics mapped to the Kantar Trend Framework, the report identifies seven cultural trajectories and eleven sectoral trends, revealing a nation navigating powerful dualities – from digital abundance and parental caution to rising aspiration amid economic pressure. Captured with rare honesty, search behaviour offers marketers a clear window into the forces shaping India’s future marketplace.
Highlights of the report:
Across generations and life stages, India is actively renegotiating how it grows, works, believes and belongs – key highlights below:
- Sectoral trends shaped by culture: Across categories, intent is overtaking impulse. Beauty searches (131M avg. monthly searches, +3% YoY) reflect a shift toward science‑backed efficacy. AI has become an everyday infrastructure (235M, +154% YoY), while food culture blends convenience with experimentation (94M, +7% YoY). Health and wellness searches (52M, +10% YoY) reveal polarized, personalized approaches, even as convenience (Quick delivery: 29M, +61% YoY), digital safety (17M, +9% YoY), financial control (27M, +3% YoY) and climate adaptation (14M, +22% YoY) increasingly shape daily decision‑making.
- Faith gets repackaged: Religion in India is shifting from collective, institutional practice to personalized, tech-enabled, and inclusive faith journeys. From AI-powered religious content such as Mahabharat AI (2K, +400%) and Gita GPT (22K, +83%), to inclusive rituals – Female Pandit for wedding (110, +100%) and expressive festival gifting – Navratri gifts (880, +267%), faith is being consumed in more individualized and modern ways. For brands across Religious and Cultural platforms, AI & content tech, Gifting, Event services, etc. this signals the need to evolve offerings that respect tradition while enabling personal, flexible, and digitally integrated spiritual experiences such as Bhajan Clubbing.
- The rise of digitally supervised childhood: Indian childhood is becoming digitally enabled but tightly supervised. Gen Alpha is growing up in a world where play, access, and curiosity are increasingly mediated through parental controls, filters, and guardrails. Parents are actively
engineering “safe” digital environments, reflected in sharp growth for Safe Search Filters (2.9K avg. monthly searches, +241% YOY), Android Parental Control (18K, +124%) and Family Link (33K, +22%). For brands across EdTech, Kids FMCG, Smartphones & Devices, and OTT & Gaming platforms, etc., this signals a clear expectation to deliver experiences that balance engagement with safety, trust, and parental assurance.
- Ageing becomes an upgrade: Ageing in India is shifting from decline management to capability building and independence right from their 40s. The focus is moving toward staying strong, self-reliant, and socially engaged rather than simply managing age-related limitations. Searches show rising interest in Strength Training for Elderly (+324%) and Perimenopause (+22%), senior-friendly tech (iPhone senior +1,043%), and community engagement. This presents a clear opportunity for brands across Healthcare, Fitness, Nutrition, Smartphones &
Tech, Financial Services, and Community Platforms to design solutions that empower longevity, enable independence, and support active, confident ageing rather than passive care.
- Slow joy enters the consumption cycle: In a fast, algorithm-driven culture, Indians are returning to tactile, effort-based pleasures that provide emotional grounding and personal satisfaction. Searches for Growth in Lego (165K, +22%) and a surge in Homemade Dog Treats (9.9K, +122K%), point to a desire for creativity, care, and routine-driven joy rather than instant gratification. For brands across Toys & Collectibles, Hobby & DIY, Pet Food & Care, Home & Lifestyle, and Wellness, this highlights an emerging opportunity to design products and experiences that reward time, involvement, and mindful participation rather than speed and automation.
- The Experience economy goes offline: After years of digital saturation, Indians are increasingly seeking physical, social, and sensory experiences that offer real-world connection and presence. Growth in Escape Room near me (10K, +49%), Coffee rave party (720, +540%), Live music (10K, +124%), and craft-based outings points to a desire to “show up” rather than just scroll. For brands across Food & Beverage, Entertainment, QSR & Cafés, Travel, Events, etc., this creates opportunities to design immersive, participatory experiences that prioritise atmosphere, community, and memorability over purely digital engagement.
- Identity without institutions: Indians are actively exploring identity frameworks outside traditional institutions, labels, and belief systems.
∙ Rising interest in ideological thinkers such as Karl Marx (+123%) and Secular Meaning (+22%) reflects this search for self-definition outside established structures.
∙ Greater engagement with the language of mental health and neurodiversity. Increased searches for Neurodivergent (+50%) and BPD Disorder (+421%) signal a deeper desire to understand the self through emotional, cognitive, and psychological lenses rather than socially imposed norms.
For brands across Media & Publishing, Education, Mental Health & Wellness, Fintech, Social Platforms, and D2C, this creates an opportunity to engage audiences with narratives, products, and experiences that validate individuality, nuance, and non-linear identity journeys rather than one-size-fits-all definitions.
- Work is being renegotiated: Indians are reassessing what work should deliver, balancing stability and success, but not at the cost of burnout and loss of control. While layoff anxiety persists, there is growing interest in Job Hugging (+2300%), Micro retirements (+800%), and Occupational burnout (+86%). At the same time, upskilling remains a priority, with increased interest in AI/ML courses (+49%). This signals a need to support more flexible work identities – through resources that enable balance, promote restorative routines, and ease concerns about work encroaching on overall quality of life.
Together, these cultural and sectoral shifts signal an India moving toward more deliberate living – where control, care and conscious choice increasingly shape how people raise families, express identity, work, spend and age in a complex, always‑ on world.
Soumya Mohanty, MD & Chief Client & Solutions Officer, South Asia, Kantar said: “Search behaviour continues to be one of the most honest signals of how India thinks, feels, aspires and adapts. This year’s findings reflect a nation negotiating multiple tensions; speed and slowness, protection and experimentation, aspiration and anxiety. For brands, the opportunity lies in understanding these cultural undercurrents and responding with empathy, intelligence, and cultural precision. The 2026 edition of ‘India in Search’ is a strategic compass for anyone seeking to decode consumer truth.”
