Murugavel Janakiraman started the BharatMatrimony website in 2000[7] while working as a software consultant for Lucent Technologies in Edison, N.J. In the late 1990s he set up a Tamil community web portal, which included matrimonial ads. He started BharatMatrimony after noticing the matrimonial ads generated most of his web traffic.[8] He returned to India in 2004.[9]
Back in the early 2000s, when there was skepticism about online matrimony and fear about paying online, the company pioneered doorstep collections in India.[10] The company introduced features on their website like Matchboard, SoulMate Search, AstroMatch, and Express Interest to help customers make the right matches.[11]
Anand Bhushan was hired by BharatMatrimony on a retainer basis.[14]
Assisted Matrimony is a personalized matchmaking service offered for busy professionals.[15]
In 2006, the website earned into the Limca Book of World Records for having facilitated the highest number of documented marriages online in India,[3] a number that has since reached one million marriages.[16]
In 2009, BharatMatrimony launched more than 200 community portals, aimed at specific language groups and communities.[17] The company launched more portals in 2010 aimed at Malaysian and Singaporean Tamils. BharatMatrimony operated in more than 14 regional languages.[18] Another portal was aimed at defence personnel.[19]
In 2014, BharatMatrimony entered into talks with several telecom companies in order to launch its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) matrimonial service. BharatMatrimony users would use the IVR service to send and receive voice messages from prospective matches on their mobile devices.[20]
In 2022, BharatMatrimony reported significant user engagement, with 280 million member logins from India and abroad.[21] The service recorded 432,520 members finding life partners through its platform.[22] User interactions averaged 13,000 per minute, with the most activity among the 25-29 age demographic, particularly on Sundays.[23]
Assisted Matrimony
Assisted Matrimony is a personalized matchmaking service, from BharatMatrimony, offered for busy Indian professionals who need assistance in finding a match.[24] There is no database that users can search. Trained relationship managers understand member preferences, search for matching profiles and send them to members. They then contact prospects and facilitate meetings on mutual consent of prospective families. BharatMatrimony started the personal assisted service in 2008 with the launch of BM Privilege.[25] This was then renamed Privilege Matrimony in 2009.[26][27]
^Business Standard (22 December 2011). "Booming biz of online marriages". Business Standard India. Business Standard Online. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
