Online Matrimony

Gone are the days when marriages were said to be made in heaven. Today, marriages are not made in heaven rather being increasingly made on the internet through multitude of free and paid matrimonial portals. Online matrimony is an emerging trend in our society today. Loads of youngsters now prefer to select their life partners on these web sites since the medium is fast and easy to access- it's been rightly said that now marriages are possible just at the click of the mouse. Indeed it's a perfect match between tradition and technology.

Traditionally for years match making was done via friends, relatives, marriage bureaus and classified ads in the newspapers, but things are slowly changing in favor of online matrimonial sites since, internet as a medium of match making takes away geographical limitations and is thereby more efficient than the traditional avenues for searching your life partner.

For the young generation of today online matrimonial portals are a more appealing medium as it gives them the type of control that traditional methods can never offer over online medium. Due to their limited exposure among prospective bride and groom traditional methods are left behind by online match making platforms that are more efficient and convenient to use. They want the best and so many boys or girls along with their parents scan a lot of eligible profiles on a matrimonial site and then zero in on the most prospective boy or the girl.

The most positive aspect of these matrimonial portals are that they are in more than one way superior to their print counterparts since they allow the registered users to know each other better by sharing their personal information, their personality, family background, outlook towards life etc. So in a way individual compatibility is much stronger through this channel.

The trend though at present is mostly confined to big urban cities and towns but slowly and gradually it is fast catching up in smaller towns as well. Women are however taking the lead in joining such sites. As per a survey, there has been a significant growth in usage of online matrimonial services by women in Tier two and Tier three cities. Many even prefer to exchange their photos, views, and opinions before bringing in the parents to finally convince them that they have found their dream partner.

According to survey conducted by India Today, "at present online matrimony is a business worth Rs.140 crore; over 12 million Indians use matrimonial websites for searching their life partners". Though currently it is a fledgling industry but online matrimonial matchmaking is being touted as brimming with widespread potential.

But certain limitations are hampering this industry - the major problem is that of internet penetration deep inside the remote areas. Even today, majority of the internet users are concentrated primarily in the urban areas, thus the matrimonial portals have restricted users. Online payment is yet another issue. Many users are still wary of making online payments.

But on the overall this is a growing business with enough potential in the years to come.

About Author: Author is a co founder of MangalJodi.com, an Indian matrimonial website owned by Sense Works Media Pvt. Ltd. For more information about services offered by MangalJodi.com please visit http://www.mangaljodi.com/.