Heavy duty sites

The trend of niche matrimonial portals is here. The latest one is abilitymatrimony.com, a website that helps people with disabilities find life partners.

The trend of niche matrimonial portals is here. The latest one is abilitymatrimony.com, a website that helps people with disabilities find life partners. Launched last month, the site joins the niche league of other portals such as overweightshaadi.com (for overweight people) and Thirungangai, a site launched earlier this year to help eunuchs and transsexuals get hitched.

Special needs
Talking about overweightshaadi.com, founder Aditi Gupta says, "People said my cousin had to lose weight to find the right guy, but she found a man who liked her as she is. This made me realise that there are boys who like healthier girls as well. It was then that my sister Megha and I decided to create a platform for people on the heavier side to meet and interact."

Gaining popularity
The website currently has more than 2,500 members with 30 to 40 joining every month. Khushboo Virmani (name changed), a member on the site, says, "I had put my biodata and pictures on many regular matrimonial websites, but to no avail.

Here it was easy because there were no prerequisite body types, and I finally met the right guy. We're getting married in two months."

One for all
Sanjeev Pahwa, who runs thirtyplusmatrimony.com and manglikshaadi.com, feels niche matrimonial sites help save a lot of time. "There are ₹500 - 600 crores riding on matrimonial websites, of which around 40 per cent is from people with specific preferences and needs," he says.

Says Anil Valiv, who started positivematrimony.com, a matrimonal website for HIV positive people: "A friend who was HIV positive wanted to get married, but couldn't, because potential brides never came out. So, I decided to launch this site. Such initiatives help people with special needs."