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Shaadi.com, one of India's largest internet brands and the world's largest matchmaking website, has picked Singapore as a springboard to tap into the Southeast Asian matrimonial service industry estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
It is estimated that in Southeast Asia, there are more than 400,000 singles of Indian origin who are of marriageable age of 24 to 35.
And if each of them were to spend US$5,000 on a wedding, the matrimonial services in this region would be worth US$2b.
To tap into this huge industry, Shaadi.com has opened its regional office in Singapore.
Vinesh Nair, Shaadi.com's Vice President for International Markets, said: "The reason why we choose Singapore is that there are about 2 million people of Indian origin in Southeast Asia. Matrimonial services would be fairly critical to that number of people of Indian origin because marriage is a very important facet in Indian culture, Indian tradition. We believe that a service like Shaadi.com will serve very well in the Southeast Asian market."
Shaadi.com has seven million users around the world.
Users can go online to register their profile, and there are 20 search fields to help members find their perfect match.
Users can search under country of residence, lifestyle preferences, education and hobbies.
And the search is free.
Users only pay when they wish to contact the potential partner.
Vinesh Nair said: "This is not a dating service. I'll like to reiterate that. A dating service is frivolous with no long-term objective in mind. For Shaadi.com, Shaadi in Hindi means marriage, it's very clear, it's a marriage, matrimonial service. If you register with Shaadi.com, it means that you want a long-term objective, an objective to try and find an alliance for life and not for a week or something like that. That's the big difference."
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