Young Indians Embrace Dating Apps Despite Social Taboos

ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 7 - Indian dating app market has exploded in recent years, with more than a dozen companies operating in India such as Woo, Thrill, TrulyMadly, HitchUp and DesiCrush. In India, half of the 1.2B population is younger than 25 and smartphone sales are projected to surge 67% this year alone. Dating is still widely seen as a social taboo in India, "it is very difficult to get girls in India to start using a dating app," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of India's TrulyMadly. "We realized verification, security and privacy are very important" to women, Bhatia said. TrulyMadly encourages men to upload copies of their IDs, or to verify their phone numbers. The app Thrill sidelines up to 35% of male users, without telling them, to a so-called "phantom zone" where they can still log on and view others' profiles, but can't make contact and are invisible to other users.