Bastion of foreign-crazy India totters with brides and families choosing 'stable' boys back home to insure against slump, say matrimonial sites
Bastion of foreign-crazy India totters with brides and families choosing 'stable' boys back home to insure against slump, say matrimonial sites
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Illustration: Sameer Pawar |
MOVE over non-resident Indian (NRI) munda. The swadeshi boy has arrived, and is winning the bout for the first time in foreign-crazy India to get the girl's hand.
Recent job cuts and a global meltdown have sent the always enviably high demand for young men settled abroad crashing by 20-30 per cent, according to Indian marriage portals. They show a shift in the choice of young brides and their families, with doctors and engineers staging a comeback, thanks to the perception that these are stable jobs.
Even the Satyam scam is unlikely to reverse the trend anytime soon, say marriage marketers.
"Since recession has set in, we have registered a 20 per cent decline in demand for NRI grooms. With financial institutions shutting shop and companies declaring bankruptcy, this was inevitable," said Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO, Bharat Matrimony. "Over the last nine months, we have seen a distinct change in the preferences made by Indian families in selecting a bridegroom for their girls. NRI grooms based in the US and the UK, who were the first choice earlier, have been relegated to the backseat. Families feel that if things go wrong in a marriage or there is a job loss, India will be a better place to sort things out."
He said stability had become more alluring to girls than the "glamour of living in a foreign country".
Parents say the Satyam Computers fiasco may make them take a hard look at techies, but overall they view Indian grooms as stable.
"Support systems here would not let the boy careen into uncertainty even if his job looks bleak. Abroad, you never know," said a retired brigadier from south Delhi, who is preparing to marry his 26-year-old daughter off this year.
Even the revenue coming from NRI grooms are going down.
"Before recession, NRI customers brought 26 per cent of our pay-member revenue, which has now come down to 16 per cent. They are not getting enough response so they are not paying," said Vivek Khare, business head of Jeevansaathi.com. "Moreover, the search of NRI grooms has also gone down by 10 to 15 per cent. But we have seen increase in the number of users and searches involving the Indian groom."
Even leading marriage bureaus have noticed parents getting apprehensive to get their daughter married to an NRI.
"The recession has left parents in deep thought before they browse the NRI sections in matrimonial ads for their daughters," said Varun Rana of Gatbandhan. "But Indian grooms are in demand, since despite recession people would marry."
