An Uber for pandits, Zomato for prasad delivery, Skype for live funerals, baptisms and communions—tech entrepreneurs are taking the online route to India’s $40 billion call to prayer.
Ruchika Kohli, a 44-year-old marketing director based in California, logged in to Skype in the wee hours not to speak with a friend or relative in another time zone, but to have a puja performed for her, virtually, by pandits in India.
“Growing up in India, pujas were a big part of my life,” she says. “But I never learnt how to do them myself. It was difficult to find a pandit and samagri [items required for a puja] in the US, so I had given up on the idea, until I heard of Shubhpuja.”
Shubhpuja is an online destination for Vedic practices, set up in 2013 by former mergers and acquisitions consultant Saumyaa Vardhan. The portal has a network of verified pandits in India, and has them perform pujas over Skype. So when Kohli booked her puja—and she has used the service five times since—an auspicious time was calculated for her in Indian Standard Time, and she received a kit with items she would need through the ritual.
“At various points, the pandits asked me to get involved—pour rice here, make a tika there,” says Kohli. “It transported me right back to my family home back in India, when my father would perform the rituals.”
When Shubhpuja started out five years ago, it was one of the first such services, aiming to add a touch of tech convenience to religion. Now, the market landscape has changed. India’s tech-religious industry is estimated to be worth $40 billion, according to market research firm Gartner, and technology entrepreneurs are beginning to see large potential in the massive, mostly unorganised sector.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 14, 2018 من Forbes India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 14, 2018 من Forbes India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Home-Cooked Meal Is Now Greatly Valued
The pandemic has also brought with it an improved focus on hygiene, use of technology in dining, rise of cloud kitchens and resurgence in popularity of Indian ingredients
Paytm 3.0 - Reaching Near Breakeven In Two Years
As of 2020, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s super app for financial services had run up losses in thousands of crores. Now, as digital payments gets yet another boost courtesy Covid-19, he’s hopeful of reaching near breakeven in two years
THE PANDEMIC HAS CAUSED WOMEN GREATER LABOUR PAIN
Covid-19 has shown that women are more likely to face the brunt of job losses than men, and find fewer opportunities when they want to resume. That apart, several have to deal with increased hours of unpaid work at home and even domestic abuse
LEADERSHIP WILL BE ABOUT SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE
Leaders must not only guard their teams first during a crisis, but also deal with stakeholders with respect and dignity. And apart from pursuing business goals, they should remain committed to our planet and the environment
PHILANTHROPY SHOULD BE HUMBLE, BUT NOT MODEST
Apart from building a flexible and resilient framework for the future, philanthropists, civil society and the government must work in tandem so that every rupee is absorbed on the ground
INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE, TECH WILL DISRUPT SECTOR
While clinical research will get a boost, having a skilled workforce and public spending on health care will be challenges in the near term
DIGITALISATION WILL HELP IN VALUE CREATION
As the pandemic brings technology and innovation to the core of business and daily life, the next decade will see about 150 million digital-first families in India
Industry 4.0: Climate Revolution?
Augmenting sustainability alongside digital capabilities is an economic, competitive and global opportunity for India’s businesses, but regulations need to reflect intent
EV Dream Still Miles Away
Electric vehicles have remained a buzzword in India for years. But not much has moved on ground due to high upfront costs, range anxiety and charging infrastructure
Living Waters
A virus has caused us to scramble for oxygen but our chokehold on the environment is slowly strangling the very waters that breathe life into us. The virus is a timely reminder: We are merely consumers, not producers of life’s breath on this planet