Matchmaking for Indian elite is big business

WHEN Saurabh Goswami’s phone rings, the matchmaker for Indian VIPs has no idea what to expect.

“They could insist on marrying into a family with a helipad, a fleet of luxury cars, private shoppers and even a certain number of servants for their every need,” he explains.

Mr Goswami, 35, used to hear his MBA classmates complain they were under pressure to get married but there was no platform for them to meet others from similar backgrounds.

So he set up Ultra Rich Match, a service where prospective clients must show net worth of £1.5million just to get on the books.

“My clients are from families you might find on the Forbes list, from industrialist families, business dynasties and top notch celebrities,” he says.

“These families want to keep things confidential and they are looking for a life partner for their children who can handle the wealth and manage their personal lives privately.”

The age-old practice of the Indian arranged marriage has been thrust into the spotlight once more following Netflix’s summer smash-hit reality series Indian Matchmaking.

Criticised in some quarters as gaudy and shallow, the show reflected one of the most striking trends of the past decade: the emergence of matchmaking companies for the Indian elite.

While love marriages are more accepted in some middle class homes, those from upper class backgrounds feel pressure from their families to marry someone from a similar financial and societal background – typically from the same religion and caste.

In terms of wealth, there are more options to choose from today: in 2000, there were just 39,000 millionaires in India but by 2018, this had risen to 343,000 and is expected to increase to 526,000 by 2023.

Before any union, some services provide a full medical screening to check that any potential children would be healthy.

343,000

The number of millionaires in India in 2018, which is due to increase to 526,000 by 2023