A marriage, in India, is a respected and revered institution. Murugavel Janakiraman, or Muruga as he prefers to be called, recognised this fact way back in 1997, when he first launched his community portal, while working as a programmer in New Jersey. He found that there was a lot of traffic within the matrimonial section of his portal. That prompted Muruga to dive headlong into an activity like marriage alliances with the launch of Matrimony.com, in 2000. And, he has not looked back, since.
“When the dotcom buzz came in 2000, I lost my consulting job in the US. I could have easily taken up another consulting assignment but I utilised this opportunity to return to India and start my own matchmaking venture. Nothing in life comes easy. I was able to bootstrap and start, grow the business and overcome the challenges. The initial days were tough. People were not aware about it and internet speed was not good those days. We always looked at every challenge as an opportunity. Earlier, in 1999, when I made my first presentation in Silicon India, the proposal was rejected by all the top Silicon Valley investors. An online matrimony portal was considered a non-viable project at that point in time,” reflects Muruga.
Launched in 2000, Matrimony.com is a pioneer in online matchmaking and marriage services. Powered by over 4000 employees and 140 retail outlets across India, its flagship brand, BharatMatrimony, has 15 language-based domains under its umbrella. The expansion into marriage services happened with the launch of MatrimonyDirectory, MatrimonyPhotography, MatrimonyBazaar and MatrimonyMandaps. “Earlier we had received funding from VCs and Yahoo. Now we felt that, for expanding certain allied marriage services, we need more funding and rather than go the VC way, and IPO is more logical. While the marriage alliance services are still the cash-generating portals, we see organic growth in the allied marriage services,” says Muruga.
Hailing from a humble background, Murugavel Janakiraman graduated in Statistics and completed his MCA from Madras University. He started his career in Chennai and moved to Singapore for a brief stint. Thereafter he worked as a consultant in the US for leading companies on software projects and acquired valuable insights on Internet technologies.
Incidentally, Muruga discovered his wife Deepa Naicker through BharatMatrimony. The couple is happily married and have two children, Arjun (15) and Anisha (8). Spiritually inclined, Muruga says he has benefitted from the teachings of his Guru Mahatria Ra and the yoga practices of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. “I have faith and belief in whatever I do and always adopt a positive attitude; these have come about from my spirituality. Every morning, I spend a minimum of one and half hours in yoga, meditation and exercise, which prepares me for the day starting from 8.30 onwards till end of day or completion of work for the day. Sundays are strictly for the family, as are the post-office hours on working days. I think, spending time with the family is therapeutic enough,” says Muruga, who loves reading and travelling. “An annual vacation with the family is a must,” he concludes.
Seventeen years hence, forty-six-year-old Muruga’s Matrimony.com, with its flagship brand BharatMatrimony.com, has just concluded their first very successful IPO, subscribed 4.4 times over.
