Aadhaar for Shaadi: Why LoveVivah uses Modi govt's favourite tool to verify members

Matrimony.com Q4 | Profit at Rs 6.8 cr versus Rs 7.1 cr, revenue at Rs 94.1 cr versus Rs 86.10 cr YoY.

There is no dearth of services for which you need to furnish your Aadhaar cards—I-T returns, PAN cards, gas connection, passports, social service schemes—the list is getting longer by the day.

Now there is a match-making service which has made Aadhaar number - 'a mandatory criterion for registration’.

LoveVivah, a matrimony startup has started using Aadhaar as a primary tool to authenticate the profiles of its members.

LoveVivah asks for an Aadhaar number when a user registers on its website for the first time, along with other basic details which include name, email-id, phone numbers, etc.

The company says the idea is to address the “huge challenge in terms of authenticity and genuineness of the profiles.”

It's a widely known fact that Indian matrimony websites struggle with profiles of candidates who are looking for casual dating and not matrimony.

“There were certain grey areas which held back the users of online matrimony sites from using them fearlessly. Ability to create profiles on online matrimony sites without any verification leads to the creation of fake profiles, which in turns creates a fear to get cheated and hence provoked the users not to trust these sites completely,” said Gorav Aggarwal – Founder and President, LoveVivah.com

LoveVivah, a subsidiary of US-based Tanisha Systems, came into existence in 2012 but the initial focus was on building product & database.

The site had a re-launch in November last year and included the Aadhaar linking to provide a “safe and secure” platform for wannabe grooms and brides.

Since its re-launch, the company has grown into 150+ employee strong organisation and has opened two new offices in Noida and Hyderabad besides Gurugram.

Aggarwal informed that when a user furnishes Aadhaar number, it is validated in real time at the backend through API integration with UIDAI (the Aadhaar issuing body).

Thus, a user cannot fake the details. “In case of mismatch in the details shared on site and the details provided while creating the Aadhaar card, the registration is deemed to be incomplete and a user cannot perform any action on the site,” Aggarwal added.

LoveVivah has several paid and free membership options with varying features and validity duration. The company expects to be a prominent matrimonial player in next five years. Image source: PTI

However, not all players in the industry seemed enthusiastic about the idea.

India's largest online matchmaking company - Matrimony.com Pvt Ltd which operates the BharatMatrimony brand uses the mobile number as the primary tool for verification of its members. The company downplayed the idea of using of Aadhaar as an authentication tool for matchmaking.

“Aadhaar is just a social identity, some government id-proof as simple as that...but I will say that, it (using Aadhaar to verify users) is one more level of interpretation. That is not something going to be significantly changing anything,” Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Matrimony.com told Moneycontrol. “It is nice to have, not a must-have thing.”

Janakiraman argued that to get a mobile number one needs to furnish government-backed identity cards anyway.

Moreover, the government has made it mandatory to link the SIM cards to Aadhaar, he added.

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Info Edge-owned Jeevansaathi.com, another player in the matchmaking business, also uses the mobile number as its primary verification tool.

Though, it is not the end of the road for LoveVivah if you do not have an Aadhaar card.

The company also allows usage of other government Id cards for authentication in ‘exceptional cases’.

“We do facilitate validation through other identification proofs like passport, PAN card & voter Id in exceptional cases when the user does not have an Aadhaar card,” said Aggarwal.

“The major difference is that the Aadhaar check is done in real time…whereas in case of other documents uploaded, LoveVivah verification team manually checks and matches the document with the mentioned details.”

A large proportion of the users chooses to go for Aadhaar linked verification.

Only 20 percent of the registering users choose to upload other documents, he informed.

Watch||How Aadhaar Will Transform India In The Future

Amid all the concerns over privacy of Aadhaar, LoveVivah claimed that they have adequate safety measures in store to safeguard the information shared by users.

The company uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol to create a secure connection between webs-browsers and its servers.

“Also, the data management is completely automated and in encrypted format ensuring no manual handling or intervention. All user credentials are saved securely in an encrypted format. Also, we have implemented firewalls on servers for data security,” said Aggarwal.

The company which claims to have seen a “multifold” growth in the user base in last one year, hopes to continue growing at a much faster pace in coming years, both in terms of user base and revenue.

“We aspire to be one of the prominent matrimonial players in next 5 years,” he added.