Matchmaking goes retro

With online matrimonial sites hit by economic slowdown, it's the traditional bureaus that are now making brisk business

Good old marriage bureaus are finding their feet once again after the recession took the sheen off their online counterparts.

Srinivasan Murthy from Brahmins Marriage Matrimonial Centre, Chamrajpet, says they are popular as they restrict themselves to Brahmins only and do it as a service.

Venkatesh Babu, managing director of Arya Vysya Kanya Varaveshana Kendra, agrees.

"We are doing very well nowadays compared to matrimonial portals as we are more community centric and have our own segmented customers. So, the process is much easier and faster. We know what they want and the customers approach us with a fixed mindset," he said.

On hold

Matrimonial portals admit a dip in their revenue. Raj Kumari from Shaadi.com says business is slow since it's mostly educated professionals who register with them. And it's the same class of people who are putting marriage plans on hold, thanks to layoffs and salary cuts.

Also, recession has taken its toll on ad spend. As Srinivasan Murthy said, "We are known through word of mouth unlike web portals which need advertising and promotions. So, recession has directly hit them," he said.

New trend

The trend now is to have both offline and online matrimonial services in the city. If one doesn't bring in the moolah, the other definitely will.u00a0

Sajjad Wahid, vice-president of inikah.com, an Islamic marriage portal, vouches for that. "Our main objective is to educate a girl and avoid dowry," he added.