Knot Dating CEO explains why men need Rs 50 lakh income to join, women sign up free

Knot Dating co-founder and CEO Jasveer Singh recently announced that the company had turned profitable in six months. Image credit: Moneycontrol)

The CEO of a Gurgaon-based AI-powered matchmaking platform, which has a Rs 50-lakh income filter on its male users, has defended the company's stand and declared that unless users are looking forward to getting married in two years, they should not sign up.

Speaking to Moneycontrol after becoming operationally profitable in six months, Knot Dating's co-founder and CEO Jasveer Singh said he is unapologetic about keeping the platform exclusive.

‘We don’t want your money if you’re not serious’

“Everyone said Indian singles won’t pay for high-value subscriptions. We’ve proven them wrong. In less than six months, we’re operationally profitable,” said Singh, adding that 60 percent of their paid subscribers are women.

He also credited the platform's success to actively discouraging casual users. “We actively discourage anyone who isn’t planning marriage in the next 18-24 months because our subscription is high-value, and you’ll only end up wasting your time and someone else’s time. We don’t want your money if you’re not serious. We eliminate noise and keep it simple — match, intro call, meeting, family meeting.”

The subscription prices for the platform start from Rs 49,000 and can go up to Rs 5 lakh. With 25,000 users and Rs 16 lakh in revenue in September, Knot Dating now plans to scale premium memberships and expand product features.

'Being trolled on social media for Rs 50 lakh income filter for men helped us grow'

Knot Dating also made waves on social media recently after a lawyer and women’s rights activist called it a shop for "gold diggers" to find a rich husband. In a video on Instagram, Tanya Appachu suggested that prospective brides ditch other dating and matrimonial apps like “Shaadi.com and Tinder” for Knot Dating since it requires men to earn over Rs 50 lakh annually to register, while women with no income can join for free.

“Not for all Indians, it’s for top 1 percent men — the whole thing screams gold digger central, right? I mean, you can just walk in and shop for a rich husband," she said in the now-viral video.

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Responding to it, Singh clarified that women users can sign up for free but would have to buy a subscription if they wanted to chat with any of their matches. Moreover, he added that the backlash on social media actually resulted in a surge of users. "We got around 3,000 users a day after the video went viral," Singh told Moneycontrol.

'We brought balance to the gender ratio in our matchmaking app'

Elaborating on why such an income filter applied only to men, the Knot Dating CEO said the approach was deliberate. "The Rs 50 lakh filter wasn’t random; it solved three things: balanced gender ratio, filtered out unserious profiles, and created a top-down approach. Start from the top layer, set a standard, then scale down gradually," he said.

Singh added that dating or matrimony apps in India face a problem of plenty when it comes to men -- of their users, 85-90 percent are men, and only 10-15 percent are women. "That imbalance kills the experience. So we flipped the script. By setting a high bar for men, we brought balance to the ratio and improved quality overnight," he said.

The filter also worked as quality control since most women and their families look for trust, security, and seriousness in their partners. "If an employer pays you Rs 50 lakh (pa), it’s proof of consistency, seriousness, and competence. It signals that you’re disciplined and have achieved something. We wanted to filter for those men who are genuinely committed and stable - because in our society, whether people like it or not, the groom’s financial standing still drives family decisions."