eBiz: Shaadi.com - Click a Match

It's an interesting story of how Anupam Mittal, an MBA from Boston College
and the promoter of India's largest matrimonial portal, came up with the idea
of Shaadi. Post his return from the US, Mittal chanced upon a pundit carrying
resumes and horoscopes of prospective brides and grooms and that's when Shaadi,
originally launched as sagai.com, was conceived in 1997. Rebranding to Shaadi
happened in 1999. Today, the site gets eight to nine million-page views everyday
and over 6 lakh success stories have been reported officially. Unofficially, the
success rate would run in to millions. One-and-a-half years back, Mittal moved
offline with Shaadi Points, branded match-making centers, targeted parents.
Vibhas Mehta, business head at Shaadi explains, “We focus on parents of people
looking for life partners who are not particularly net savvy.” The 100th
center was launched in August with 500 being the target by the end of 2007.
People Interactive has also launched Fropper.com, a dating portal and
Shaaditimes.com, which provides counseling services and tips and guidance to
wedding planning. The entire wedding ecosystem is completed with the recent
launch of Astro.com. 

Bhaswati Chakravorty