The website, IIT IIM Shaadi, is made exclusively for alumni of IITs, IIMs and other prestigious institutes of the country. The tagline reads “Alma Mater Matters”, which also happens to be the company’s registered name, with a picture of brand ambassador Karan Johar
Taksh Gupta is the founder of IIT IIM Shaadi. (Image: Screengrab from @Taksh Gupta/LinkedIn)
A matrimonial website has recently caught the attention of people on social media, and not in a good way.
The website, IIT IIM Shaadi{dot}com, is made exclusively for alumni of IITs, IIMs and other prestigious institutes of the country. The tagline reads “Alma Mater Matters”, which also happens to be the company’s registered name, with a picture of the brand ambassador Karan Johar.
So what really has irked the netizens? Why are tweet threads dismissing the concept and the founder in the same breath? Let’s find out:
What is IITIIMShaadi.com
Even though the matrimonial website has just been launched into popularity by backlash from the internet people, it has been around for quite some time.
As per the ‘About Us’ section of the website, it was launched in April 2014. The Alma Mater Matter Pvt Ltd is an “exclusive lounge to explore matrimonial alliances among alumni of premier educational institutions”.
With members in India and 50 other countries, the website claims to stand out of the crowd by authenticating each profile “on the basis of education by screening their institution’s degree, ID-card/mark sheet etc”.
The eligibility criteria on the same page read – “fundamentally we invite registration from alumni of top few Indian and Global Institutions irrespective of the field of study”.
The matrimony service “wishes to cover Engineering, Management, Architecture, Medicine, Finance, Law, Fashion Design, Theater, Media Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Music, Dance , Culinary Arts, Historic Preservation, Animal Psychology and you name it”.
It also looks kindly upon senior government officers, while showing an “indicative list of institutions” that is “by no means exhaustive”.
In response to one of its frequently asked questions, the website reveals that the service has over 1,50,000 registered individuals. It has about 30,000 active and authenticated members.
Why is it facing backlash?
Starting from brand ambassador Karan Johar’s message in a video where he says the purpose of the service is to match people who are “mentally” compatible, to the entire idea behind the website has the internet irked.