 "Astrology")
Ahmedabad-based astrology start-up Ganeshaspeaks.com, founded by Hemang Pandit, seeks to turn astrology into a vocation by bringing in some standardisation in the way this ancient knowledge is passed on to freshers and how it recruits its astrologers. A not-for-profit foundation called Global Astrological Research and Development Foundation, created by Pandit, has designed a specialised course on astrology, which is now being offered to students as a one-month full-time certificate course on Jyotish Vigyan (vedic astrology) in Ahmedabad.
According to Pandit, the target is to offer a well-structured, vocational course to propagate the ancient wisdom and produce competent, industry-ready astrologers. Notably, the course offers ‘100 per cent placement’ guarantee. Apart from the basic course, advanced courses are also on offer.
Anyone above 16 years of age can opt for it. Within a month of its launch, the course has seen young people as well as retired personnel and housewives opting for it. One for the nominal course fee (Rs 5,000) and another for the placement guarantee. Pandit says an astrologer can make anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 70,000 a month, if working with a firm like Ganeshaspeaks, and the opportunity to ‘freelance’ is also there.
“Astrology is an ancient wisdom generally passed on from older generations to younger ones. The process, however, is not standardised always. While there are institutes that offer courses on the subject, astrology education in the country has remained largely unorganised,” said Pandit. After starting Ganeshaspeaks.com, Pandit and his team have been facing this issue while recruiting astrologers in the team. It has been a challenge to make traditionally trained astrologers unlearn what they knew, and then learn afresh, says Pandit who plans to come up with an online version of the course.
“It is a perfect fit for young psychology graduates. With more educated people coming into this field, its credibility would increase. Astrology is indeed a science, the interpretation of the planetary combinations is an art, that needs to be mastered,” he adds.
According to market estimates, the horoscopes market in India alone is $10 billion, with about five million people practising astrology in the top 600 towns. While no official data is available on the same, over the next decade, the demand for certified astrologers is expected to increase with more portals and organised players coming into the sector.
Pandit, who gave up his cushy job with a telecom company, founded Ganeshaspeaks.com in 2003 with a seed capital of Rs 10 lakh. He says he broke even within a month of operations, and plans to invest Rs 7-10 crore in the coming years to further develop its mobile application, website, expand its services and launch new products. Things such as tying up with an agriculture data management firm for weather forecast are on the cards. Ganeshaspeaks employs around 700 people, of whom nearly 500 would be astrologers. It runs two call centres - one in Ahmedabad and the other in Bengaluru - and offers services in almost all major Indian languages.
The portal, which Pandit claims to be India’s number one and the world's number three astrology portal, gets about 10 million visits a month, of which nearly 25 per cent are unique visitors. Combining its web and telecom operations, it gets around five million unique visitors a month. Nearly 50 per cent of its traffic comes from outside India, says Pandit.
