Mumbai emerges as India’s most forgetful city; gold biscuits among unique items left behind in cabs

Mumbai has replaced Delhi's two-year title as India's most forgetful city based on the 9th edition of Uber's Lost and Found Index for 2024. The yearly report offers insights into items left in Uber cars revealing patterns of forgetfulness in the country's cities. Pune also moved up the forgetfulness rankings to rank as the third most forgetful city as Bengaluru slipped to fourth and Kolkata joined the top five. Hyderabad was ranked as the least forgetful large city.

What did riders forget the most?

The index also notes the most frequently misplaced items, which are bags, earphones, phones and wallets with spectacles keys and clothing being second. The report also discussed some of the rather unusual lost items. These were a wedding saree, a gold biscuit, 25 kilograms of cow ghee and even a cooking stove, indicating moments of great distraction among riders.

Saturdays were recognised as the busiest day of forgetfulness with evenings around 7 pm being the most probable time for things to get left behind. Red-coloured items were most often forgotten followed by blue and yellow. Interestingly Samsung phone users displayed a greater tendency to leave things behind. Celebratory days also witnessed an increase in the number of lost things.

Shiva Shailendran, Consumer and Growth Director, Uber India South Asia, added context to the results. "We've all been there — that facepalm moment when we realised we left a precious item behind in a cab. At Uber, we've made it simple to get back lost items with just a few steps in our app. We thank our riders for trusting us each time they select Uber and think it's the ideal time to remind them of how to reclaim items left behind."

Uber's in-app feature allows riders to easily report and attempt to retrieve lost items by contacting their driver directly. If contact is unsuccessful Uber's support team is available to assist. The Lost and Found Index serves as a lighthearted yet informative reminder of this useful feature for Uber users across India.