Marriage websites, or online matrimonial sites, are a variation of the standard dating websites, with a focus on those wanting marriage rather than simply dating.[1]
Matrimonial sites are specially popular in India and among Indians settled overseas.[2] Young men and women in India generally do not feel any compulsion to date since dating has not been a part of the culture historically. In the west, love is generally considered a prerequisite for marriage.[3] In India, however "love" is often taken to be the total mutual dedication that comes after marriage.
Matrimonial sites register users, after which they are able to upload their profile onto a searchable database maintained by the website. Those users looking to find suitors can search the database with customised searches that typically include nationality, age, gender, availability of photograph and often religion, geographic location and caste (mainly for websites based in India).
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Online Matrimony is an organized web based Matrimonial/Marriage service facilitating wishful young men and women to find their suitable life partners. In India organized marriage services business is worth INR 10 billion.[4] Online Matrimony caters to people spread across the globe to find their suitable partner living in a remote place but matching his/her specific interests and requirements. Given the varied and complex match making process of Indian system that is based on diverse aspects such as Caste, Religion, Economic Standard, Job status, age, height, family background etc., Online Matrimony services have become quite successful. Over the years patrons of these services are going up.[5] This World Wide Web based service has millions of users [6] with millions of dollars business potential. There are also websites that cater to specific communities. Some communities, such as Jains run some non-profit web-sites.
Along side riding on the success and convenience of Online Matrimony services, one needs to exercise care and caution in giving out the information. Recent trends showed that there is a possibility of putting this information to misuse [7] [8] [9][10] .[11]
India has always been rooted in tradition and religious beliefs. Traditional marriage in India depends heavily on tying partners based on certain important characteristics (religion, caste, class, social status, etc.) than a romanticized tying of partners, as is common in much of the Western world. Arranged marriages and marriages within the family has been the usual norm in Indian families. Love marriages are much less common, although this has been drastically changing over the years. The essential marriage broker is a volunteer (person who does introduction between bride's and groom's family without any monetary consideration), or a professional, who used to be involved in most arranged marriages, or a combination of a priest and a barber. In the last decade the print matrimonials gained an upper hand. With the internet boom in India, the picture of a marriage broker with a huge diary with tucked-in photographs is slowly phasing out, giving way to a gamut of online matrimonial sites.
Indian marriage requirements can, in many cases, be so specific in religion, caste, language, and location needed that the internet suits many potential Indian husbands and wives perfectly. A service provider may use registration profiles to filter preferences and may run several different portals to cater for needs like different languages.[12]