IIM, IIT grads have new ways of finding the right matrimonial match
Gone are the days when match making in India was done on the basis of caste, colour, creed, economic and social status. Moving beyond this traditional concept of looking for like-minded people, attempts are now being made to arrange marriages on the basis of one's educational institute!
And websites like iitiimshaadi.com or premium matrimony.in are a testimony to this very fact.
Launched in April 2014, iitiimshaadi.com is a brainchild of 51 year old Ajay Gupta, a PG in Rural Management from IRMA and doctorate from the Delhi School of Economics. The newest amongst the lot, this website is for people graduating from the top 100 educational institutes worldwide including the premier IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) and top-notch foreign universities like Harvard and Yale.
However, the latter was founded by a team of three IIM-Bangalore graduates in January 2014. The idea behind introducing this website was to address the issue and difficulty faced by the founders' friend in finding the right matrimonial match. "During our tenure at IIM-B, we had observed how some of our well educated friends, especially girls, face challenges in finding the right partner” said one of the founders in a conversation with shiksha.com.
Creating quite a buzz in India and abroad, these websites require its grooms to be an alumni of Indian or International premier institutions. However, the criteria for the bride is much more relaxed as they only need to be a graduate from a reputed institute in the country. In simple words, a woman is eligible if she's a graduate but a man needs to have studied more.
In a quick conversation with shiksha.com, the founders of both these upcoming websites talk about their respective stories, the idea behind a separate website and more.
How many registrations have you received till now and how many do you receive on an average?
iitiimshaadi.com: We have received 1700 registrations. Of these, we have activated only 120 as they meet all the advised pre-requisites.
premium matrimony.in: We launched the beta-version of Premium Matrimony website on January 1st, 2014 at IIM Bangalore amidst our batch mates whose constant help and encouragement we had and continue to have.
We started with 12 profiles on the first day and currently have 250+ profiles, and the number is growing fast. Though we have not been promoting as the website is in beta, the response has been tremendous and supersedes our initial expectations – even in terms of gender ratio. Surprisingly, NRI students & Professionals form a significant part of our client base.
Where do you see the most traction from?
iitiimshaadi.com: We are getting good response from top rated institutions in India and from Indians around the world.
premium matrimony.in: We designed Premium Matrimony as a matrimonial platform for people from the best educational institutes across Medicine, Management, Engineering, Arts etc.( For example AIIMS, NALSAR, SRCC etc are in the list) However, 82% of our current user base consists of profiles from IITs, IIMs and NITs, with a few profiles of people who have studied abroad. 41% of our clients are women. Compare this with the percentage of women in the segment that we aim to serve – the numbers reinforce our original observation that women need this kind of special platform. Going forward, we expect to have more diverse profiles such as those from Commerce and Medical backgrounds.
Why is there a need a need for a separate website?
iitiimshaadi.com : Education remains a criterion particularly among middle class families. Parents of a doctor girl or a CA girl would like their son in law to be atleast a doctor or engineer or MBA. IITIIM shaadi is a platform where academic elite register. Hence, it is a niche meeting place for those who have acquired education from premier schools in any discipline-Science, Arts, Engineering, Medicine, Architecture, Management, Music, Fine Arts, Design and so on. Database is low, relevant and hence mining easy.
premium matrimony.in: We are a team of three IIM-Bangalore graduates. During our tenure at IIM-B, we had observed how some of our well educated friends, especially girls, face challenges in finding the right partner.
Given that the top educational institutes like the IIMs, IITs, NITs, NALSAR etc. continue to be dominated by men, women from these backgrounds find it difficult to get a groom of their liking who appreciates the fact that career is as important to these women as marriage and family. Similarly, well educated men have difficulty in searching for women with high educational background and career orientation. The common underlying problem for both genders is finding the partner who appreciates the dreams and achievement orientation. This is where the idea of creating a platform exclusively for this segment originated.
Our dream is to create a matrimony platform where the primary focus is on educational background and career orientation. We are proud of the fact that we found many like-minded people at IIM-B who are against the typical ‘fair, tall and pretty’ women. We don’t live in such a society any more – at least not the segment we are targeting. We wanted to make a difference to the way matches are made and came up with the idea of Premium Matrimony. We ran it by our friends, classmates and alumni and received great responses from them, particularly from the women. That is when we decided we were doing the right thing.
Do you also receive profiles of Non-IITians/IIM students? What do you do when you receive a fake profile?
iitiimshaadi.com: As mentioned, we receive and accept profiles from all disciplines as long as the education is from any of the specified institution in India or abroad. We obtain photocopy of educational certificates to verify. Fake profiles are not activated.
premium matrimony.in: As we said, our aim is to have profiles from top colleges across fields. Moreover there are very good institutions other than IITs like BITS/NITs in engineering and XLRI/FMS in management. We receive profiles from colleges AIIMS, IISc, SRCC too. Quite encouragingly, we receive profiles with MIT, Stanford, LSB credentials.
Regarding fake profiles, we haven’t come across any such instances. We have robust scrutiny and verification mechanisms to ensure authenticity and accuracy of the information provided. That is where Premium Matrimony differentiates itself. If we receive any fake profiles, we reject them straight away.
How is the response generation?
iitiimshaadi.com: We consider the response encouraging.
premium matrimony.in: NA
Do you see this as a growing market? How and why?
iitiimshaadi.com: There is a large market. Growing also because more and more high quality institutions are being opened up in India. Also more Indians now go out for acquiring education from some of the world's top institutions.
premium matrimony.in: We are particularly against the concept of ‘market’, ‘supply’ and ‘demand’. These words are very materialistic and lack human touch.
Online matrimony is definitely growing. As we said earlier, the increased focus on education and career orientation among new generation makes it a growing need to have focused platforms with authentic profiles and ease of use.
Are there any success stories? If yes, can you share some?
iitiimshaadi.com: Site is new. We are not yet aware of any success story.
premium matrimony.in: We launched recently and our statistics indicate that people started expressing interests.
What is the registration fee?
iitiimshaadi.com: Registration is free for first few months. We shall start charging once appreciable database is available.
premium matrimony.in: We opened our service to profiles with top college credentials and there is no charge for them.
So, don’t be surprised if one day instead of being asked, " Beta, kya karte ho?" or " Beta, aapko khana banana aata hai?", people end up asking you questions like, " IIM - A se ho ya IIM - K se? or something like, " Beta, IIT Jodhpur kyun gaye? Kharagpur mein admission nahi mili?".
