More and more youth in the country are giving preference to location based, free-mobile dating apps and social media tools over matrimonial portals or newspaper ads to find a life partner, says an Assocham survey.
Ahead of Valentines Day, Assocham's Social Media Foundation (ASDF) conducted a survey of about 1,500 people in the age group of 20-30 years at 10 centres including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR between January 1- February 10.
Many of the respondents said that a dating/match-making app makes it easier to assess someone based on things like physical appearance, photos, common interests, lifestyle, etc which remains totally private to them unlike profiles on matrimony portals which can also be accessed by parents looking for a match for their children.
The survey found out that mobile apps like Tinder, Happn, TrulyMadly, etc operate relatively on a similar mechanism as matrimonial sites and are specifically designed for dating.
"It comes as no surprise that youths are using such a platform and technology in something as important as finding a life partner," Assocham secretary general, D S Rawat said.
"Dating apps are likely to gain much more popularity and following in the near future as they offer more choice and chances to meet people and connect with them online," he added.
"Though currently it is at a nascent stage and not even worth Rs 500 crore, but with rising number of youngsters across India giving a try to online dating, it will soon become a multi-crore industry," he further said.
Majority (about 55 per cent) of the respondents said they had used a dating app for casual dating, meaningful relationship outside the prescribed norms and traditions. While about 20 per cent said they were using match-making apps as they were more serious about finding a lasting partner.
About 10 per cent said they use these apps to interact socially or for networking in ways other than dating and the rest said they had no idea about such mobile apps.
On being asked as to why they prefer or do not prefer using dating apps, majority of respondents said it is safe and secure as it allows them to maintain anonymity even though it does have the option for full disclosure.
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