I want a partner with a helipad': India's new matchmakers cater to the super-rich

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I want a partner with a helipad': India's new matchmakers cater to the super-rich

When Saurabh Goswami’s phone rings the VIP Indian marriage matchmaker has no idea quite 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,” Mr Goswami explains matter-of-factly.

The Mumbai resident set up his company, Ultra Rich Match, after hearing complaints from his MBA classmates that they were under pressure to get married but there was no platform for them to meet others from similar backgrounds.

Yet, Ultra Rich Match isn’t for everyone - you have to declare an eye-watering £1.5 million net worth to get on his books, whether that be in real estate, gold or stocks.

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

“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.”

Samira Gupta, a life-coach to some of India’s wealthiest families in New Delhi, says a groom’s family will look for a bride with a degree from one of the world’s top universities, someone who is well-traveled, with business acumen and a unique talent.

She runs a finishing school for prospective brides and grooms and says parents will often call her a year before their offspring’s wedding.

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

Yet, as the show’s popularity suggests, the practice is far from outdated despite India’s youth being increasingly influenced by Western culture.

Approximately 90 per cent of urban Indian marriages are arranged and only three per cent of people had a love marriage, according to a 2018 survey by the Lok Foundation and Oxford University.

One of the most striking trends in the past decade has been the emergence of VIP matchmaking companies like Ultra Rich Max, as the country’s developing and traditionally informal economy surges, causing its middle and upper classes to balloon in size.

In 2000, there were just 39,000 millionaires in India, but by 2018 this figure had risen to 343,000 and is expected to increase to 526,000 by 2023.

The last decade has seen the arranged marriage evolve, according to Mishi Mehta Sood and Tania Sondhi, the Co-Founders of MatchMe, a boutique matchmaking agency.

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

However, the children are able to have more of a say from the days gone by where a family friend would fix a marriage and the bride and groom would meet for the first time on their wedding day.

At MatchMe, Ms. Sood and Ms. Sondhi introduce wealthy and successful young professionals for a face-to-face meeting first and the couple are encouraged to establish whether they have similar interests before any potential in-laws come face-to-face.

“We then leave the decision to the two people. We do encourage them to take their time and understand each other first and then if you reach the point you feel that this is it, you can get fixed and married,” said Ms. Sood.

She said that another factor in the continued popularity of arranged marriages among the children of wealthy families is that in today’s modern age their careers often do not permit them the time to meet prospective partners.

Today’s VIP arranged marriages are best understood as being a union between traditional custom and modern practices.

At Ultra Rich Match, Mr Goswami employs an astrologer to decide whether two prospective partners would be a good fit, in addition to a matching penchant for luxury vehicles.

He recalls the story of one millionaire pairing who did not match up in the eyes of the astrologer and were instructed to feed one thousands cows as recompense, considered holy animals in Hinduism.

“The astrologer still plays a very important role in marriages in India, I would say interest in my services has gone up by 10,000 percent over the past decade,” said Dr Vishnu Modi, a VIP astrologer in Mumbai.

“As India modernizes, couples can face more and more problems as life is more complex, whether it is in their jobs or relationships and they are looking for the answers from the stars”.

Mr Goswami does not just employ an astrologer for his clients and a private detective is also available to screen any prospective partners on a range of issues from hidden financial debts, to whether they eat meat or are a secret smoker.

A full medical screening must also be carried out before any union, to ascertain that any potential children would be healthy.

Both at Ultra RIch Match and MatchMe, the number of enquiries into their services have skyrocketed since Indian Matchmaking was screened on Netflix.

For Ms. Sood, children from wealthy families have watched the show and having previously been against their parents' ideas of an arranged marriage, now see the clear attraction of what she describes as a “personalised matchmaking service” around their busy lives.

“I think a lot of young people didn’t understand what a modern arranged marriage was like before and watched the show and now think of it as an option,” she said.

 

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