Large number of youngsters turn to dating apps in hope to find partners, finds survey

Single young men and women prefer to find their dates on mobile apps, making matrimonial sites a thing of the past, a survey on the eve of Valentine's Day has revealed.

The Assocham Social Media Foundation interviewed about 1,500 people aged between 25 to 30 in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi NCR, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai between January 1 and February 10 for the survey.

More than 50% of the respondents said they used apps for casual dating, meaningful relationships or connections outside the prescribed traditional norms, while 20% were confident of finding a lasting partner.

The other 10% used matchmaking apps for social interactions.

While they said they would prefer free and reliable apps over matrimonial sites or newspaper columns, they reasoned that apps allowed them to assess their partners on physical appearance, age, weight, complexion, geographic location, interests, profession and lifestyle.

Apps also gave them anonymity and exercise control on the kind of information they would reveal such as names, email, pictures and other personal details while establishing a connection, respondents said.

Assocham general secretary D S Rawat said youngsters prefer taking control of their lives, especially finding a partner or a date.

"Dating apps will be more popular in the foreseeable future since they offer more choices and chances of meeting people online," he said.

"Dating apps have the potential to become a multi-million dollar industry, though it's not even worth more than Rs 500 crore right now," Rawat said. "This is because youngsters across India are moving to dating apps in larger numbers."