COVID Forces a Lifestyle Change in India

COVID has brought an unexpected change to India: Suddenly, everyone seems to want a dishwasher in their kitchen. As a post at daijiworld.com explains, the kitchen appliance has never been a big seller in the nation, in part because cheap domestic labor is so plentiful. But the pandemic has changed that almost overnight. First, a strict government lockdown in March barred domestic workers in much of the country. But even now, with lockdowns being lifted, many families are leery about having workers come into their homes, reports Quartz.

The result? One leading seller of the appliances has seen a 230% increase in sales since March, Amazon India reports a fivefold increase in dishwasher searches, and companies are struggling to keep the appliances in stock. "It is safe to say that the sales of dishwashers have finally taken off in India, making them the low-key heroes of the lockdown," an exec with a home appliance firm says, per daijiworld. Of course, this doesn't bode well for the approximately 20 million domestic workers who've traditionally taken care of such household chores by hand. What's more, the daijiworld post suggests the change appears to be permanent, with dishwasher sales expected to continue surging in the coming years. (More India stories.)