India’s Economic Sentiment Falls, Google Searches Spike

There are indicators and then there are indicators.

You already know that India’s GDP growth rate has fallen to a six-year low, the manufacturing sector is sluggish and stock markets are volatile.

But did you know that more people are googling ‘India economic slowdown’ than ever before?

A host of search terms, all related to a slowdown in the Indian economy, have peaked in recent months, shows data from Google Trends. Searches for ‘India economic slowdown’, for instance, are at an all-time high across the world. Try another version and type in ‘economic slowdown in India', and you’ll see a similar surge.

To be sure, the data may not be comparable over time as usage of Google and interest in the Indian economy may have steadily risen over this period.

That’s not all.

You and I know that India is no where close to a recession. A recession is two-quarters of negative growth. India's GDP is still growing at 5 percent.

But that hasn’t prevented people from asking Google whether India is in a recession.

And so, you’ll find that a spike in searches for ‘Is India In Recession’. Once again, such Google searches are at a record high.

Who is most interested in knowing the fate of the Indian economy? Well, Indians, of course. But many others too.

Searches for the state of the Indian economy are coming in from the U.A.E, Singapore, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., where investors and Non-Resident Indians may reside.

While searches for terms linked to the India economic slowdown have hit a record high globally, in India such searches have risen but remain below the levels seen during the global financial crisis of 2008-09.

The term ‘Economic Slowdown’ has been most searched since 2009 among searches in India, shows Google Trends.

Yes, everyone wants to know about the state of the Indian economy but, for some reason, the maximum searches have come from Goa. Jharkhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra are other parts of the country that hitting Google and searching for ‘India Economic Slowdown’ in a big way.

What do these Google trends results tell us? Maybe nothing.

There are other more serious indicators that point to weakening consumer sentiment ⁠— like the declining consumer confidence as reflected in the Reserve Bank of India’s surveys or the falling sales of items ranging from automobiles to fast-moving consumer goods.

So the frequency of Google searches needn’t give policymakers any fresh clues on the nature of the slowdown or the cure. But it certainly tells them this⁠—India and the world is worried about the state of the Indian economy. And they are looking to Google for answers.