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Three out of every four young Indians choose video dating to find love

Published

3 years ago

2022/10/2

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN,
Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, October 1:More and more young Indians, even in small towns, are relying on dating apps to find love and companionship. They are choosing video calls over in-person dating to know each other. The surge in usage is especially strong outside metro cities, which now account for 70% of users of the dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and TrulyMadly, company executives said.Cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Patna are seeing a significant surge in usage, catching up with the country’s major cities.

With virtual dates becoming a norm, a substantial number of women are now becoming more vocal on dating platforms.Nearly 72% of users believe finding love online without meeting them in person is possible, the executives at dating apps said.

“The distinction between our online and offline world is blurring. As a result, the time spent online is on the rise,” said Shalini Singh, founder of Andwemet, a dating service for 25-plus single Indians that has seen its user-base triple annually in the past two years.

Singh said there is more trust in online platforms in the post-pandemic era, and people are willing to pay for the convenience of online dating.Usage in these cities has also been boosted with many moving to their hometowns from metros after the pandemic, she said. Dating apps are attracting affluent users even in small-town India.

According to Tinder’s Year in Swipe 2021, video dates have become a first-date staple for singletons, with mentions of ‘video call’ in Tinder bios growing by 52% globally.

Many Indians took to video dating on Tinder, where Hyderabad reigned supreme as the chattiest city, followed closely by Chennai and Bengaluru. Yet, young adults were also looking to make a connection with new people close to them for real-life hangouts with ‘nearby’ and ‘close by’, both increasing by 20% in Tinder bios globally, showing that real-world dating isn’t going out of fashion anytime soon.

“As we shift back to IRL (in real life) dating in 2022, the trends of last year are guiding the way India’s young adults navigate the world of dating, friends, connections and relationships,” said Papri Dev, senior director, APAC communications lead, Tinder Inc.

Snehil Khanor, co-founder and chief executive officer of TrulyMadly, said that most first dates are still on video, and if things work out, users plan an offline date.Sybil Shiddel, country manager for Gleeden, a platform designed for extramarital relationships, said during the pandemic, a large part of its user base found virtual exchanges satisfying.

“They were happy with having found companionship and that their online exchanges allowed them to unwind, laugh, flirt and sext without putting them at risk. Time spent on the app has tripled,” Shiddel said.

“In 2022, when the ghost of the pandemic is no longer lingering above our heads with the same strength as previous years, Indian users still spend an average of 3.5 hours chatting,” Shiddel said. Before March 2020, most Gleeden users came from Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

During 2020, 2021 and the first part of 2022, the maximum traction was seen from Gurugram (currently the platform’s No. 5 city), Chandigarh, Kochi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Noida, Nagpur, Indore, Navi Mumbai, Burdwan, Howrah and Thane.

Agreeing that video calls are now a part of the screening process before an in-person date, Able Joseph, founder and CEO of dating app Aisle, said casual hook-ups may be on a slow decline. “Loneliness—coupled with a few years of uncertainty—has led to a certain sense of collective fatigue that’s developed in the Indian dating landscape. Singles are found moving away from the endless loop of swiping across dating platforms and are now looking for more substance in a relationship,” Joseph added.

Since the majority of the new users are signing up from smaller towns and cities, with limited matches in their location, they are looking online for suitable partners across the country, said Ravi Mittal, founder and CEO of dating service QuackQuack, which has seen an 11% jump in female users.Samarpita Samaddar, India communications director at Bumble, said the pandemic has made “more than half of us (62%)” realize that it’s okay to be alone for a while.

“People are consciously deciding to be single, with the majority of single people (54%) being more mindful and intentional in how and when they date,” she said.

A nationwide survey conducted in 2021 showed that after the second covid wave in India, emotional connection (60%) and kindness (55%) top the charts as being the most important to single Indians in dating, Samaddar said.

“Social good in terms of volunteering, donating to social causes (48%) especially rank high in preferences for millennials in India,” she added.

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Interment of singer Latha Walpola at Borella on Wednesday [31st]

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/28

Priyan

Family sources have confirmed that the interment of singer Latha Walpola will be performed at the General Cemetery Borella on Wednesday (31 December).

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Western Naval Command conducts beach cleanup to mark Navy’s 75th anniversary

Published

4 hours ago

2025/12/28

Priyan

In an environmental initiative commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy, the Western Naval Command organized a cleanup programme at Galle Face Beach on Saturday (27 Dec 25).

The programme focused on the removal of substantial solid waste littering the beachfront, including accumulated plastic and polythene debris. All collected wastey was systematically disposed of utilizing methods designed to safeguard the sensitive coastal ecosystem.

Demonstrating a strong commitment to the cause, the cleanup effort saw the participation of the Commander Western Naval Area and a group of over 200 naval personnel.

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Environmentalists warn Sri Lanka’s ecological safeguards are failing

Published

8 hours ago

2025/12/28

Thilina Walpola

Sri Lanka’s environmental protection framework is rapidly eroding, with weak law enforcement, politically driven development and the routine sidelining of environmental safeguards pushing the country towards an ecological crisis, leading environmentalists have warned.

Dilena Pathragoda, Managing Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), has said the growing environmental damage across the island is not the result of regulatory gaps, but of persistent failure to enforce existing laws.

“Sri Lanka does not suffer from a lack of environmental regulations — it suffers from a lack of political will to enforce them,” Pathragoda told The Sunday Island. “Environmental destruction is taking place openly, often with official knowledge, and almost always without accountability.”

Dr. Pathragoda has said environmental impact assessments are increasingly treated as procedural formalities rather than binding safeguards, allowing ecologically sensitive areas to be cleared or altered with minimal oversight.

“When environmental approvals are rushed, diluted or ignored altogether, the consequences are predictable — habitat loss, biodiversity decline and escalating conflict between humans and nature,” Pathragoda said.

Environmental activist Janaka Withanage warned that unregulated development and land-use changes are dismantling natural ecosystems that have sustained rural communities for generations.

“We are destroying natural buffers that protect people from floods, droughts and soil erosion,” Withanage said. “Once wetlands, forests and river catchments are damaged, the impacts are felt far beyond the project site.”

Withanage said communities are increasingly left vulnerable as environmental degradation accelerates, while those responsible rarely face legal consequences.

“What we see is selective enforcement,” he said. “Small-scale offenders are targeted, while large-scale violations linked to powerful interests continue unchecked.”

Both environmentalists warned that climate variability is amplifying the damage caused by poor planning, placing additional strain on ecosystems already weakened by deforestation, sand mining and infrastructure expansion.

Pathragoda stressed that environmental protection must be treated as a national priority rather than a development obstacle.

“Environmental laws exist to protect people, livelihoods and the economy,” he said. “Ignoring them will only increase disaster risk and long-term economic losses.”

Withanage echoed the call for urgent reform, warning that continued neglect would result in irreversible damage.

“If this trajectory continues, future generations will inherit an island far more vulnerable and far less resilient,” he said.

Environmental groups say Sri Lanka’s standing as a biodiversity hotspot — and its resilience to climate-driven disasters — will ultimately depend on whether environmental governance is restored before critical thresholds are crossed.

By Ifham Nizam ✍️