Bangalore is such a cosmopolitan city with a huge population of professionals, that social networking is very low here. Bangaloreans have no time to seek potential partners.
Thus, our Shaadi Point and Shaadi.com are most successful in Bangalore, compared to any other Indian city. In the North, parents and uncles still play an instrumental role in marriage, said Omprakash Hassanandani, business head of new age offline marriage bureau, Shaadi Point.
Exploring the market
Omprakash was in Bangalore recently to explore the market and discuss his expansion plans here. Shaadi Point claims to have served lakhs of customers across 83 cities through its 143 centres in one-and-a-half years alone. And Karnataka’s response has been phenomenal.
To which Omprakash said, “Shaadi Point has about 27,600 people from Karnataka as its members. We now want to grow from five to ten centres in Bangalore.”
And for these expansion plans, Shaadi Point’s research team conducted a survey on the demand for the bureau in Bangalore, popular candidate profiles and current lifestyles. Omprakash shared with
Metrolife some of the findings.
“The male-female membership ratio is 48:52. Most male members fall in the age bracket of 24 to 31 years. Female members fall into two categories — one is 21-24 years and the other 26-30 years. Eighty per cent of the women are graduates and 57 per cent draw an income of above Rs two lakh per annum.”
“Interestingly, only 52 per cent of the male members are graduates and 33 per cent have an income of Rs five lakh annually. Bangalore men are not as educated as its women!”
Marriage profile
Comparing Bangalore to North Indian cities,
Omprakash spoke about the profile differences. “In Bangalore, the candidates approach us themselves. They are aware and want to connect on subjective parameters as against the objective in the North. A regular male profile in the North will have a Marwari boy from Rajasthan looking for a girl of the same financial status, should be good-looking, fair and the educational qualification must be lesser than his own. A Bangalore boy is usually well-educated and wants a girl, probably an MBA, a degree-holder, a doctor or a software engineer. They are very service-oriented unlike the business background in the North,” he explained.
Requirements
With Bangalore being the IT City, don’t people take to the internet matchmaking site Shaadi.com than a Shaadi Point? “We need both for a city like Bangalore because it has a mixed population — conservative and independent. Internet users are typically aged between 18 to 35 years and log on themselves. When parents intervene, Shaadi Point becomes more user-friendly. Both Shaadi.com and Shaadi Point are equally successful in Bangalore,” explained Omprakash, adding that Shaadi Point has grown by almost 350 per cent in the last two years here!
Horoscope matching
Horoscope matching for prospective grooms and brides dates back to ancient India and is still prevalent in most societies. Surprisingly, it still holds great importance in Bangalore, popularly known as the city of professionals.
“Many a time, horoscope matching comes even before match fixing in Bangalore. In the North, it’s the other way round,” he said.
Bangalore features in the top five cities for this offline matchmaking bureau, alongside Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata. And Mysore will soon see a Shaadi Point. Astrology products and more swayamvars are on their way.
“Bangalore is the main city for us in the South. And we have big plans in time to come. Just watch,” said Omprakash on an ambitious note.