Kolkata has seen a 250% growth in the online search for packers and movers in the “outside India” category, since last year, indicating a significant trend of shifting out of the city to settle abroad. This has been found by a recent study conducted by an online search giant, Sulekha.com in the key metro cities of Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad and Pune.
While the overall demand for packers and movers at the national level has increased up to 44% since last year, the top three markets that have seen the maximum growth are Pune with about 85%, followed by Kolkata and Ahmedabad at 76% and 61%, respectively, indicating high levels of movement and relocation from these cities.
When asked whether it was the economic stagnation in West Bengal that was driving residents out of Kolkata, MP Saugata Roy of the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress refused to comment saying that he or his party was not aware of any such survey.
The survey also states that packers and movers outside India is the category that has seen the maximum growth in the last one year, with a growth of about 72% across the cities surveyed. Chennai has also seen a significant number of movements of people outside India, with a growth of about 186%.
Bangalore is the only city that has seen a 7% de-growth for car carriers in the last year.
Commenting on the survey Satya Prabhakar, CEO, Sulekha, said, “This study interestingly indicates how millennials in India are constantly on the move. They are not deeply rooted to any particular city and are willing to move around for better career opportunities and prospects. Packers and movers is a high-value category in the $200 billion local services market in India, and we have seen explosive growth in this category this past year. Sulekha will focus on developing this category further, based on data intelligence and our market experience.”
This study was based on an analysis of over 650,000 searches on Sulekha in the last one year between July 2015 and June 2016 for packers and movers, and 87,000 online requests in the local services category on the portal. Sulekha is one of India’s largest and fastest-growing digital platforms for local service need fulfillment in over 40 cities.