The infamous matchmaker Sima Taparia from the Netflix series Indian Matchmaking, once said a few words of wisdom – “First is marriage, then is love”. While many laughed, mocked or cringed at this dialogue, statistics prove her right. In a survey conducted in 2018, it was found that 93% of Indian marriages were arranged. Most arranged marriages happen via Indian matrimonial websites.
In India, arranged marriage is not just a popular way of finding a partner but it is also a booming and thriving business. If marriages are made in heaven, then here it seems to be made online. The most popular matrimonial portals exist on the basis of state, religion and caste. In addition to these, there are some unique and peculiar Indian matrimonial websites. Let’s talk about some of these and be ready to either laugh or question our country’s mental health situation.
Quick response matrimonial – marryinaweek
Have you already crossed the ‘marriageable age’ or are you fed up with waiting for potential matches to respond to your interest? This is when the ‘Marry In A Week’ Facebook matrimonial page acts as your saviour. Your matches are given 7 ‘whole’ days to accept your interest, post which, they are permanently written off from your soulmate list. So what are you waiting for, hurry up and get ready to marry within a week?
Also if you are wondering how to plan and execute all the marriage arrangements so quickly, they have created another app to save your day – the WedAbout app, a wedding planning and services app which claims to be the ‘One stop shop for weddings’.
This team has developed two brilliant business models after being inspired by the idiom – ‘Kill two birds with one stone’.
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Alma mater matters – IITIIMshaadi.com
This is one of the Indian matrimonial websites that was the talk of the town when it was launched. If a person has graduated from the prestigious IIT, IIM or similar other top colleges, how can they marry an ordinary person? They need to find a special species exactly like them and this is the problem that IITIIMshaadi.com helps to solve. On this website, you can lie about everything apart from your degree and college because you get the privilege to be a part of this exclusive website only after your degree certificates are verified.
For the stars of the society – youngachieversmatrimony.com
This matrimonial site has come up with its own definition of who is an achiever and only those who fit this criterion are welcome to register in it. But if you are from an ultra-rich family or a celebrity, you are exempted. In 2018, one of their newspaper advertisement went viral because their achiever criteria also included ‘Beautiful girls’.
More peculiar than their target customers is the differential pricing scheme that they follow. For the Young Achievers Package, they charge a one-time fee of INR 10,000 and if the match gets fixed then INR 90,000 should be paid. For the Elite Package, a one-time fee of INR 25,000 is levied and if the match gets fixed, then the charge is a whooping INR 4,75,000. Seems like one of their young achievers helped them come up with this illogical pricing scheme. Also, another achiever seems to have developed the content of their website because it is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
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Find a perfect government shaadi match – govtshaadi.com
Government employees are one of the most sought-after categories in the matrimonial market. This portal, which is solely focused on matching government employees with each other, might be the reason why commoners are facing a scarcity in bagging a government employee partner. As per the law of supply and demand in economics, if the supply is lesser than the demand, then the price goes up. Maybe, this could be the reason why the dowry demanded by government employees is higher.
Mangliks marry Mangliks – mangliks.com
I am going borrow a quote from the matchmaker Sima Taparia – “All my efforts are meaningless if stars are not aligned” and this website decided to bring about a solution to her sadness. A matrimonial page only for the Mmangliks (Chova Dosham for the Malayalis) because only a Manglik can marry another Manglik else it leads to a catastrophe.
This website should definitely look at providing an add-on ‘paid’ service of arranging banana tree marriage for their clients as an extra safety measure.
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The nostalgic “Fauji Kids” bonding – defencewardsmatrimony.com
This website is quite unique because its target market is not the defence professionals but rather their children who may or may not be working in the defence sector. The idea behind this website seems to have been inspired by the age-old expectation of children from royal families marrying into another royal family because civilians are below their standard.
You made your career, Now get married – thirtyplusshaadi.com
Oops, did you cross the age of 30? Now you are too old to get a partner from a normal matrimonial website, hence comes thirtyplusshaadi.com with the following introduction – ‘caters to a special group of bachelors and spinsters who are above the age of Thirty.’ Yes, you are a ‘special group’ if you have crossed the permissible marriageable age of 30.
In case, this website is unable to get you a partner and you cross 40, then 40plusmatrimony.com comes to your rescue.
Fortunate souls take devotee association & render services – marryadevotee.com
There are matrimonial pages based on religion and caste but this seems to be not enough. A matrimonial portal concentrating on a niche group of Krishna devotees exists. While registering, one can give details about the spiritual organisation they are associated with, the rounds of mantras they chant, the number of regulative principles that they follow and various other core religious information. This portal is definitely aiming to find a match made in Vrindavan.
Also Read: How to Bake the Perfect ‘Arranged Kalyanam’
Matchmaking for millionaires – ultrarichmatch.com
If you are rich and want to stay away from even seeing commoners’ profiles, then ultrarichmatch.com is your go-to option. Their clients are not just rich but verified rich. A relationship manager personally visits every client’s home and workplace and ensures that the total net worth mentioned by them is accurate. All the millionaires can now breathe in peace because there is no way their children are going to be conned by the peasants who act as wealthy.
Finding your soulmate among the top tech companies, because you deserve no less – faangshaadi.com
This portal is solely for FAANG employees. The abbreviation FAANG stands for the top five American technology companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. The website claims that all their clients have undergone a coding test and their employment status is verified from LinkedIn. They also offer filtering criteria based on years of experience, compensation, stocks vested etc. FAANGshaadi is basically a dream checklist for every IT genius.
Before your head explodes, let me clarify that faangshaadi.com was created as an April fool’s prank and is not in actual existence. But you can never predict the future.
The Indian matrimonial market seems to be evolving at a rapid pace and may soon come up with technologies to custom built your soulmate. Add four tablespoons of sanskaar, three tablespoons of good looks, five teaspoons of intelligence and a pinch of confidence – viola, presenting the matchmaker’s specially curated soulmate of the season, only for you! To check out your customised partner from the cart it would just cost you INR 99,999 but if you are rich you would be charged INR 9,99,999 only. Please note that the price is exclusive of GST.
Would you now register on these Indian matrimonial websites? Let us know!
Also Read: 7 Unusual Wedding Customs Around The World
