Voice search adoption in India: What does it mean for brands?

“Suggest a good smartphone with a great camera for night photography under ₹30K.” Whether you say this in Hindi or English, your search results will instantly list top brands, contenders, and key features, allowing you to browse through the overview without typing a single word yet still getting the desired response. Voice search feels effortless and intuitive, making it the preferred choice for many.

With India leading in voice search adoption, what does this mean for brands? It signals a shift—traditional SEO is no longer enough. The focus is now on context-driven, intent-heavy search optimization, making Voice SEO essential for ranking in AI-powered search results across search engines and voice assistants.

According to Neelesh Pednekar, Co-Founder & Head Of Digital Media at Social Pill, over 1 billion voice searches are conducted monthly worldwide. The number of voice assistants has surpassed 8.4 billion devices, and over 50% of internet users are expected to use voice assistants by 2026.

Industry experts thus believe that voice search marketing can truly be a game changer for brands in 2025. 

In a country where linguistic diversity and mobile-first usage dominate, voice search is breaking down accessibility barriers.

“Voice search marketing will be a pillar of India's digital ecosystem by 2025. With more than 700 million smartphone users (IAMAI, 2023) and low-cost internet, voice usage is skyrocketing, particularly in Tier-2/3 cities where regional languages are prevalent. Almost 65% of Indian users use voice search due to its ease of use in multilingual environments,” said Kumar Saurav, Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer, AdCounty Media. 

He further shared examples to illustrate this, such as searching "Hindi mein petrol pump kaise dhunde?" (How to locate a petrol pump in Hindi). Platforms like Google Assistant and JioSaavn are tailoring their voice capabilities to accommodate Indian accents and regional dialects.

According to him, Industries like e-commerce (Flipkart voice shopping), BFSI (HDFC voice banking), and agri-tech (Ninjacart farmer queries) are already leveraging Voice SEO to cater to non-English speakers, enhancing accessibility and user experience.

Saurav added while India's voice commerce market is anticipated to expand 34% annually (KPMG 2023), long-tail, conversational terms in Hindi, Tamil, and Marathi optimised by such brands will race ahead. Thus, voice is not merely a fad—it's crossing India's digital divide.

However, Udit Agarwal, VP & Global Head Marketing at Exotel believes that despite its rapid growth, AI-powered voice search is still evolving, particularly in India, where mixed-language queries are common. He said, “Voice AI is one of those things that sounds like the future—but we’re still figuring out how to fully unlock its potential. Brands have started experimenting with voice search marketing, but it's nowhere near mass adoption yet. Right now, AI is still learning—especially when it comes to understanding different accents, languages, and the way people actually talk. If you’ve ever tried using voice search in a mix of Hindi and English (or any other composite language), you’ll know that AI assistants sometimes get completely lost. The challenge isn’t just recognizing words but understanding context, intent, and slang.”

Agarwal further shared an example: In India, a simple search like “Best term insurance batao jo budget-friendly ho” is very different from “Cheapest term insurance”. The AI needs to process the mix of Hindi and English, infer that "budget-friendly" isn’t just about price but value, and return the right results. Thus, according to him, right now, most voice assistants struggle with these nuances, but they’re improving every day.

He added, “According to voicebot.ai, voice search adoption is growing, but slow—while 50% of people use voice assistants, only 14% use them to search for businesses.”

Adoption across industries

But are other brands on board? 

Pednekar pointed out that while many brands are yet to fully invest in voice search, key industries are already embracing it. He said, “In the automotive sector, voice assistants in cars help users find nearby services effortlessly. Retail and e-commerce are also witnessing a shift, with 58% of consumers using voice search for local business information, making it essential for physical stores, restaurants, and online shopping. The entertainment and media industry is adapting to this trend, as seen with platforms like Gaana, where 24% of users now rely on voice search for song discovery. Additionally, healthcare and finance sectors are leveraging voice technology for patient engagement and banking services, streamlining interactions and improving user experience.”

Saurav further highlighted how Indian brands are proactively adopting voice search to enhance user convenience. Paytm enables bill payments via Alexa, while Practo uses voice SEO to answer local health queries like “Bengaluru mein doctor dikhaaye” (Show doctors in Bengaluru). Various sectors are leveraging voice technology to improve accessibility and engagement.

In the BFSI sector, SBI allows customers to check their balances using voice commands in local languages. E-commerce platforms like Meesho and Nykaa optimize product pages for voice queries such as “Saree under ₹1,000.” In agriculture, startups like AgNext provide farmers with crop advice in regional languages like Punjabi and Telugu. The travel industry is also adapting, with MakeMyTrip processing queries like “Goa flights under ₹5,000.” Meanwhile, local retail is seeing adoption as kirana stores integrate voice search for WhatsApp orders.

He added, “With 40% of rural India relying on voice search due to literacy barriers (Nielsen 2023), vernacular-first strategies have become crucial. The growing adoption of UPI voice payments, such as “PhonePe, ₹500 pay karo”, further solidifies voice search as India’s next major digital growth driver.”

According to Agarwal, for brands, voice search marketing is still an evolving playbook. Today, most businesses focus on ranking for text-based searches, but optimizing for voice queries means adapting to conversational, intent-driven questions. Instead of targeting “best credit card,” brands will need to optimize for “Which credit card is best for frequent travelers?”

He added, “At Exotel, we see this shift happening in customer interactions. Our AI-powered voice solutions help businesses handle customer support calls, but these interactions could soon double up as a search discovery channel. Imagine asking an AI-powered IVR about a product and instantly getting an answer instead of waiting on hold—this is where AI-powered voice search meets CX.”

Case studies

While many brands seem to be onboard for the shift, those that do not - agree that it is truly the way forward. 

Kapil Narnaware, Chief of E-Commerce, Business Head, Pidilite Industries Limited said he certainly looks forward to adopting voice search marketing. “It all comes down to consumer behavior. There's a clear difference between writing and speaking—while writing can be faster, not everyone is good at it. Speaking, on the other hand, comes naturally to most people. As users find voice search more convenient, its adoption is bound to accelerate,” he said. 

Narnaware further suggested that voice search marketing is especially important in the regional market. He added, “For instance, if you need a rust remover, instead of typing it out, you’d simply say "rust remover." It’s quicker and more intuitive, especially in regional markets where voice search can bridge language barriers.”

The regional factor in India does play a crucial role in the advanced adoption of voice search marketing. 

For instance, PhonePe’s Indus Appstore, India’s homegrown app marketplace, recently announced the launch of its Voice Search feature available in 10 Indian languages in addition to English. The Voice Search technology is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, ensuring accuracy and precision in understanding diverse accents and speech patterns offering relevant search results. 

According to them, vernacular language speakers account for approximately 75% of India’s Internet user base underscoring the need to bridge the linguistic barriers that come with discovering and engaging with apps. Traditional text-based search in regional languages pose numerous challenges, including the need for specialized keyboards and complex character compositions. These hurdles hinder seamless communication.

Akash Dongre, Co-founder and CPO, Indus Appstore said, “The new Voice Search feature is our effort towards creating an inclusive and accessible app store. With 82% of smartphone users engaging in voice-activated technology, integration of Indian languages has been the strongest growth driver for tech across the six-to-sixty age spectrum. The user-centric feature positions Indus Appstore at the forefront of transformative Voice Technology that is the need of the decade.”

This was further reiterated by Pednekar who said that India is witnessing explosive voice search growth, especially in vernacular languages. Google reports voice searches in India grew 270% YoY, driven by non-English internet users. Hindi is now the second most used language on Google Assistant globally, and Indian brands are adapting by offering regional-language voice experiences. This shift makes voice search a critical tool for digital inclusion and marketing in India.

Why are we not there yet?

For voice search to become truly mainstream, several underlying technological challenges must be addressed.

According to Agarwal, voice search marketing is in the building phase, where AI models are constantly learning from more queries. He said, “Voice search will become more powerful as it improves in understanding different accents and languages, processing mixed-language queries (Hinglish, Tanglish, etc.) and delivering more personalized and contextual responses.”

He further highlighted several obstacles that must be addressed before voice search can become truly mainstream. According to Agarwal, three critical technological components need significant improvement for voice search marketing to take off. First, Speech-to-Text (STT) Accuracy remains a challenge, as people often use filler words, mix languages, and change sentence structures mid-speech. Current speech-to-text engines struggle with recognizing regional accents—a South Indian, Bengali, or Punjabi speaker saying “best phone under 50K” may sound vastly different. They also have difficulty interpreting slang and casual speech, such as “Yaar, koi accha car loan hai kya?” which should still yield relevant results. Moreover, composite languages like Hinglish, Tanglish, or Arabic-French pose an additional hurdle.

Second, Text-to-Speech (TTS) Latency needs refinement. Even when AI correctly understands a voice query, generating a human-like, natural response remains slow. Current TTS models suffer from high latency, making users wait longer for responses, and often produce mechanical-sounding speech, lacking emotional intelligence and natural tone.

Finally, the cost of AI processing is a major barrier. Unlike traditional text-based searches, voice interactions require real-time speech-to-text conversion, AI-powered processing, and text-to-speech synthesis, all of which demand heavy computational power. This increases infrastructure costs for businesses, which is why even tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple limit advanced AI voice capabilities to premium services.

Best practices

While many brands have taken initial steps, unlocking voice search’s full potential requires a structured, data-driven approach. To overcome these hurdles, experts highlighted key practices that brands must adopt to fully leverage voice search marketing. 

Pednekar suggested that first, using conversational keywords is essential, focusing on long-tail, natural language phrases like “Best hotels near me” to align with how users speak. Targeting featured snippets is another key strategy, as voice assistants often pull direct answers from these results. Optimizing for local searches is crucial, with nearly 50% of voice queries being “near me” searches, making it imperative for brands to keep their Google Business Profile updated. 

Additionally, improving site speed and mobile usability ensures a seamless experience, as voice users expect fast-loading, mobile-friendly websites. Leveraging schema markup further helps search engines understand and surface content more effectively. Lastly, brands are increasingly creating voice-enabled experiences through integrations like Alexa Skills and Google Actions, enhancing user engagement and accessibility. 

Thus, while voice search marketing is growing and brands seem excited to onboard it - we have to sit back and see when and how it truly becomes mainstream. As brands race to optimize for this shift, those who act early will gain a competitive edge in an increasingly voice-driven digital landscape.