Match made in business: Why self-employed people get more profile clicks on matrimonial sites

Search databases show growing preference for self-employed as suitable matches on the back of the startup boom. 

NEW DELHI: The boom in India’s startup sector may be having an unlikely outcome: a lot more people are now searching for entrepreneurs to say “I do”, say matchmaking websites.

In India, matrimonial profiles of self-employed people have traditionally been preferred by the business community. But top executives of cyber services like Matrimony.comand Shaadi.com, which run searchable databases of matrimonial material, say entrepreneurs are garnering a lot more clicks across communities following the boom in the country’s startup ecosystem.

Rajasekar KS, general manager (marketing) at Matrimony.com, which runs matchmaking website Bharat Matrimony, said there’s been a marked increase in the preference for entrepreneurs over the last few years. “It is largely driven by the increasing success stories of entrepreneurs,” he told ET.

A 26-year-old owner of a robotics startup, who did not wish to be named, said his parents often say in jest that it will be hard to find a match for him because of his “unstable income”—a reflection of the changing outlook towards entrepreneurs as potential life partners.

Gourav Rakshit, CEO of Shaadi-.com, said the number of women showing interest in marrying entrepreneurs has gone up significantly in the last few years. “Over 20% women have shown interest in entrepreneurs,” he said.

Jeevansathi.com senior vicepresident Rohan Mathur said he had seen a spike in women’s interest in self-employed men three-four years ago, when it was going up 10-12% on average. The percentage of interested women has now stabilised at 3.6%, he added.

Shifts are visible in other directions too. For instance, professional women from business families are now keen on marrying professionals like themselves, according to matchmakers at smaller companies. This is because traditional business families generally don’t prefer women who want to devote long hours to their work, said Raspreet Singh Saluja, a veteran matchmaker at Sycoriaan Matrimonial Services, which has about 10,000 clients.

Finance professionals, too, are in demand in the marriage market. “A huge number of business-background families look at finance professionals for their daughters and sons,” said Tania Malhotra Sondhi, cofounder of MatchMe, a Delhi-based personalised matchmaking service. Earlier, they would prefer even more affluent business families, she said.

Rakshit of Shaadi.com said the number of clicks for finance professionals on Shaadi.com has risen significantly in the last few years, attributing it to the growth and success of private banks.

Another positive change is that more women are now in control of their profiles on these websites, as opposed to their parents doing the monitoring, said Mathur and Rakshit. Defence professionals, too, are drawing a lot more interest in the marriage market, according to Rakshit.

According to the major matrimonial websites, the number of people who call themselves atheists has gone up on the more high-end websites. Akhilesh Sharma, founder of curated matchmakers iBluebottle, said about 5% of his subscribers describe themselves as atheists.