India’s matchmaking process has undergone a massive transformation over the last decade in more ways than one. A new report by matchmaking platform Jeevansathi, based on an analysis of user trends between 2016 and 2025, highlights this shift.
From the average age of users on the platform to changing perception around caste, divorcees and financial stability, India is rewriting the rules of matchmaking.
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Twenty-somethings may still be fielding “shaadi kab?” questions at family dinners, but the timeline has quietly shifted. The median age at which the platform users are searching for a partner has moved from 27 to 29 over the last decade. In fact, 50 per cent of users now initiate their matchmaking journey at 29.
Being ‘ready’ for marriage also has a different meaning now. It is no longer about reaching a particular age or having a certain salary package. In the in-app survey of over 30,000 active users in 2026, 90 per cent said that finding the right partner matters more than age or financial stability, across genders.
Only 7 per cent pointed to money and 3 per cent to “turning the right age.” Marriage, for many, is shifting from a box to tick at a “correct” time to a relationship that has to feel right first.
Caste, cities and the new aspirations of marriage
One of the most telling shifts is around caste. In 2016, 91 per cent of the matrimony platform’s users selected caste as a strict preference. In 2025, the figure dropped sharply to 54 per cent.
Geography, meanwhile, has become its own form of aspiration. Delhi-NCR emerges as a powerful “marriage magnet” in the data: half of people from the region send interest to matches within the city, and it’s also the top destination for users from cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal and Indore.
Urban centres like Delhi, Pune, Kolkata and Bengaluru attract not just jobs, but partners; marriage becomes a pathway into a certain kind of life—better exposure, mobility and networks – as much as a personal relationship.
Second chances, shared salaries
Arranged marriage, once seen as a one-time, irreversible leap, is showing signs of softening rigidity. The new numbers suggest a shift in that perception. Profiles of people seeking a second marriage have grown from 11 per cent in 2016 to 16 per cent in 2025, and one in six success stories on Jeevansathi today involves individuals entering a remarriage.
About 15 per cent of the interest these profiles receive comes from never-married users, hinting at a slow but steady destigmatisation of divorce.
The old ‘sole breadwinner’ concept is also being rewritten. When asked how partners should contribute financially in a marriage, 42 per cent of users say both should contribute equally, and only 8 per cent believe one person should be the primary earner.
Among men, 87 per cent say they are comfortable marrying women who earn more than them. Women’s responses are more cautious – 15 per cent say they are open to marrying someone who earns less.
Strikingly, even as people wait longer to start the search, they move faster once they find someone who fits. 78 per cent say they would want to marry within six months of finding a partner, with nearly half willing to do it within three months. Basically, those who come to matrimony apps are not casually browsing – they are, in many ways, already standing at the threshold.
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