Latching on to the information technology boom, online matchmaking is fast turning into a big business in Kerala, catering to a vast clientele including the Malayali diaspora spread around the world.

Some leading players in the field have such wide networks reaching out to the Gulf, the United States and Europe, not to speak of the big cities in the country.

There are about 100 matrimonial service agencies in the state alone, helping parents to find suitable matches for their children.

According to R Chandrasekharan, the promoter of Garuda International, his firm recorded a turnover of Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) last year.

Now a market leader with branches in five Gulf states, apart from Mumbai and Delhi in the country, Garuda has an impressive data bank of 20,000 entries.

Started in 1993 as a one-room outfit in Thiruvananthapuram, the firm now employs over 500 people, many of them computer professionals.

"We have helped about 60,000 people to find life-partners in 10 years, with well-to-do parents increasingly preferring the professional agencies to traditional marriage brokers," he says.

Garuda charges a registration fee of Rs 1,500 and when matches are formalised, each side has to shell out Rs 13,500.

"We have a system to make sure that the clients pay our dues promptly, with our staff keeping in regular touch with the people who register with us," he adds.

The charges vary in smaller agencies, depending on the income profile and social status of the people visiting these marriage bureaus.

For instance, a Kochi-based agency does not charge any registration fee, but levies a service charge of Rs 50 for each proposal sent.

According to industry sources, some agencies in the Christian-dominated Central Travancore region charge two to three per cent of the total value of property share given to their daughters by parents at the time of marriage.

While the role of most agencies is confined to registration and forwarding proposals, some high profile ones facilitate meeting of the would-be couples and even arrange counseling to help the young ones to lead a happy family life, sources say.

"In several cases, after the initial formalities like examining horoscope and exchange of visits by parents from both sides, the boy and the girl choose to have their first meeting at our office. This is strictly done with the knowledge of parents," Chandrasekharan says.

Industry sources say that a major factor that helped the matchmaking business catch up well in Kerala is that Malayalis are tradition-bound.

"However long they stay abroad, the Malayali parents generally prefer to have their children wedded to grooms in their own religion or caste," says an operator.

According to P Bhaskaran from Vatakara, it was a local marriage bureau that helped him to find a Gulf-employed boy for his daughter two years back. "First I did not relish the idea of going for a non-traditional route. But now I don't regret for these people do their work more sincerely than the traditional marriage broker," he says.

"We get an average 200 to 250 entries every month from Dubai alone," Chandrasekharan says, adding he plans to open a bureau in Singapore next month and the United Kingdom, US and Saudi Arabia in September.

In the case of middle class Hindus, matching of the horoscope is the first stage in the marriage process. So, most bureaus have astrology software with them for preliminary examination of the horoscopes of the eligible candidates.

Many players in the field say that the success of a marriage bureau depends very much on its credibility. "This is a delicate area where each and every case has to be handled carefully. Mere computers and well-trained staff alone won't bring you success. Your track record very much counts," says K M George of the Classic Advertisers in Muvvattupuzha in Ernakulam district.

People in the matchmaking trade are sensitive to the changing values and preferences in the society.

According to Chandrasekharan, no parents these days prefer to go by financial status alone, as most of them consider family background and educational qualification as the important parameters.

Until a few years ago, the middle class parents within Kerala used to insist on boys employed in the government or in banks, preferably working in their hometown. Now, the fortunes of young businessmen and professionals working abroad have gone up, he says.

With middle class parents preferring grooms within their religion or caste, only about five per cent of the marriages are inter-caste, he adds.