80% use 1 Shaadi Site
By Sandhya

Regular readers of Techgoss are well aware that a large number of our articles are crowd sourced.  People send in tips, story ideas and even articles. Many of our contributors have full times jobs in IT-ITES, and so prefer using a pseudonym.  A Tipster (and possibly Bride to be) wrote in

“
I am a 24 year old Hyd-based single female journalist who is under intense family pressure to get married.  My parents have put up my profile in both BharatMatrimony and Shaadi websites.

As a journalist, on Aug 30, 2011, I received the following press release which we did not publish as we get tens of such press releases every day.

‘
Online PR News – 30-August-2011. TheJuxtConsult study on online usage reveals that a whopping 80% use BharatMatrimony for their matrimonial needs. Only BharatMatrimony, Facebook and YouTube are visited by 80% or more of users in their respective categories. BharatMatrimony was also the most used / preferred matrimony website for 56% of those seeking life partners while Facebook was the most used social networking website (59%). YouTube was the most preferred website for 78% of those who watch videos.
‘

Note that the above press release says that 56 percent of Indians online used / preferred BharatMatrimony.  But the same paragraph claims that a ‘whopping 80% use Bharatmatrimony for their matrimonial needs’.

Confused?  So am I!  But what the hell this is the Indian matrimonial market where everyone from Bride to be, Groom to be, In Laws to be seem to tell a few white lies.  So, why should we only look at the matrimonial sites?  (My mother has said in my profile ‘Well versed in household duties’ when the fact is that Bossy Mom (aka ‘Kitchen Hitler’) does not allow anyone in the kitchen!

Anyway, on Sept 9, 2011, I received via email the image above from BharatMatrimony which said ’80 percent of Indians use Bharatmatrimony for matrimony search’.  If you seen the image above sent to us on Sept 9, it glosses over the details sent to us via a press release on Aug 30.

Getting to the point, the Indian Government has set up the Competition Commission to make ‘Indian markets work well for consumers’ through effective competition’.

If the Government of India can ensure no mobile company or Car Company grabs too large a market share and then misuses it, should it also turn it attention to Matrimony sites which claim that 80 percent of Indians use it? 
“

Know more?  Send us a detailed Tip.  Rs. 1000 has been sent to the Tipster who has requested anonymity.

(Tipsters, Big thank you for all your tips and photos. Do you have a story to tell? If you need to speak to us in confidence or write for us, email us at techgoss[at]hotmail. Or use the Anonymous Tip form at the top of our website. Anonymity guaranteed. We pay Rs. 1000 for 100 – 200 word snippets. Unfortunately, we cannot use any tips which are not backed up by enough facts)