Most of those staying in urban India would have heard of matrimonial sites and know how they function. Unlike dating sites in the West, matrimonial sites in India operate on the basis of bringing in technology to facilitate what was so far known as an arranged marriage. The astounding growth of online matrimonial sites is largely because of numerous choices they offer to its users, making it very convenient for them to find a suitable partner. Statistics show that in the years 2012-2013, about 50-55 million people registered their profiles in some or the other matrimonial site.
Used mostly by people belonging to the 25-35 age group, their use of matrimonial sites have changed the way traditional India looks at marriages. This leads us to the reason why matrimonial sites are increasingly becoming so popular in the subcontinent. Matrimonial websites are big business because they blend in the traditional with the modern. Traditional families are happy that these sites offer them the choice of caste, creed, and other such parameters which they would otherwise look for in a prospective bride/groom; on the other hand, the huge database offers young people the chance to browse for someone based on their tastes, and then filter it down to someone they think they could connect to.
Reasons for the popularity of matrimonial sites
A reason why matrimonial sites have received the blessings of traditional parents looking at getting their wards married is because these sites haven’t tried to turn into dating avenues. The option of dating someone you like on a matrimonial site remains like a good aftereffect of the site. But primarily, it is used by young people and their families in search of partners who will be more or less similar to what they want in real life, based on their value system, social standing and other such parameters.
The above mentioned reason for popularity leads to the second reason why the matrimonial websites are such a hit. Apart from the different usability factors, these sites cater to not only the urban youth but the diverse communities and castes throughout India. The websites have large databases which cater to different religions, castes and communities that are the prime focus of most Indian families in marriages.
User-friendly and safe
When you visit one of the matrimonial sites, the first thing you notice is how user-friendly they are. As a result, whether it is youngsters or the elderly in the family, anyone can access these websites easily. Moreover, the websites have special features that have kept in mind the traditional mindset of many of its users. Features like privacy options help keep the identity of both the girl and the boy limited to only genuinely interested parties, and are not revealed to the random public, which makes many families comfortable using it.
Other features which are attractive to the users, are photo protection features, which do not allow anyone to copy or download the pictures; verified phone numbers, so that you know that the person you’re talking to is a genuine person; and intelligent contact filters, which help both the bride and the groom zero in on the kind of people they are looking for, very easily. Other friendly features include match alerts that are sent by the website to a registered member as prospective grooms or brides through their personal email and other such messaging services.
Most of these websites have a column called ‘Success stories’ which are stories of those people who have found their successful matches through that particular website. This column encourages those looking for partners, and tells them that finding their right partner is just a click away and it makes them confident that they would also find someone suited to their tastes.
Other attractive features
A highly desired service that is a part of some of these matrimonial services is the ‘personalized matchmaking services’. As a part of this service, you are assigned a highly involved relationship manager, who does all the background research on the prospective bride/groom on your behalf. Their job is to provide you with personalized assistance in finding the right partner for you, and in this endeavor, they use advanced tools that assist in the search for finding the right partner for you from amongst thousands of profiles. Not only that, they also assure you that you can effectively communicate with your desired partner and in this regard they help you meet up with the prospective partner too.
Surprisingly, many of these matrimonial sites also provide marriage counseling services and helping out couples with advice regarding how to deal with their marriages and how to make them work.
