Vertical Limit ; Some Verticals Such As Jobs, Travel and Matrimony Are Beginning to Pull in Big Money. Problem: They Also Are the Most Crowded.

Business Today › June 04, 2007

Linked as:

Summary

When Yatish Diwakar, 29, a software engineer at Wipro, Bangalore, tied the knot with Sukanya Kulkarni, a Pune-based advertising professional, in January this year, it was very much a traditional affair, involving family and friends and all the customs. Yet, when it came to finding a bride in the first place, Diwakar followed anything but tradition. He simply searched online--on Bharatmatrimony.com, where Diwakar had posted his profile and Sukanya hers. "Although both of us belong to the same caste, we come from vastly different backgrounds. If it were not for the net, I doubt if I would have married someone from Pune, since I hail from Mysore and live in Bangalore," says Diwakar.

A happy marriage for the two families, and welcome business for Murugavel Janakiraman. A decade ago, when this MCA from the University of Madras launched Bharat Matrimony, the idea was to play a matchmaker for the NRIs in the US. It was a different internet age in India then. There were just 3 million users and all of them trawled the net on painfully slow dial-up connections. Text-based e- mails were the primary means of communication in cyberspace. Things are very different today. There are more than 45 million internet users in the country, broadband has penetrated the metros, and an entire generation of consumers is comfortable doing many things online--finding a spouse, included. As for Janakiraman, his online business empire spans not just matrimony, but jobs, real estate and auto. Yahoo and venture firm Canaan Partners have invested Rs 40 crore in Bharat Matrimony.

See the full content of this document

Extract

Vertical Limit ; Some Verticals Such As Jobs, Travel and Matrimony Are Beginning to Pull in Big Money. Problem: They Also Are the Most Crowded.

Another such entrepreneur is Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who also started his net venture 10 years ago and today owns a clutch of portals, including flagship Naukri.com, Jeevansathi.com, and 99acres.com. Two years ago his firm, Infoedge, had Rs 45 crore in revenues; today, it does Rs 150 crore. Its marke...

See the full content of this document