STARTUP SPECIAL ......From pujas to pilgrimages, these startups are disrupting spirituality

From pujas to pilgrimages, these startups are disrupting spirituality

Spirituality has always drawn people from across the world to India — and it’s now drawing entrepreneurs who see opportunity in using technology to connect devotees to their places of worship. The spirituality market in India, pegged at about $40 billion a year, is a highly disorganised yet lucrative trove for entrepreneurs.

Saumyaa Vardhan, who worked as a mergers and acquisitions expert in London for seven years, returned to India for a funeral, and realised how little young people — including herself — knew about rituals and ceremonies. Vardhan, who had studied statistics and management, got interested in the idea of setting up a one-stop-shop for spiritual needs. She spent four years learning Hindi, Sanskrit, astrology, vaastu shastra and numerology. “I had to understand the science behind everything,” said Vardhan, who set up Shubhpuja in 2013.

When she first wandered through the streets of old Delhi, asking questions about religious practices, she was met with cynicism. “They would wonder who is this girl talking to us in English. It took time to convince the traditionalists that Shubhpuja will give them more work, not take it away,” she says. The company, which provides information on astrology and numerology and helps organize pujas, was selected for funding and mentoring by Zone Startups India’s empoWer initiative in 2016.

While Vardhan was new to the world of spirituality, Arun Kumar Somaskandan, founder of online puja-booking startup Harivara, comes from a family of priests.

For him, breaking into the circuit and convincing his fellow priests in Tamil Nadu to go online was not so hard. Somaskandan also sees his startup as a means to augment priests’ dwindling incomes.

“Fewer people hold daily or monthly pujas now. Priests don’t earn much anymore. So youngsters in the community do learn all the Vedic rituals, but find it more lucrative to take up a corporate job,” he says. Harivara, which has done more than 33,000 pujas and has a network of 3,200 priests since it was started in 2014, has expanded to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Harivara gives priests a free mobile phone and insurance, besides providing loans when needed.

For those who are unable to visit temples, these startups offer solutions like allowing them to join in via Skype or booking pujas online. Jennylyn Gleave, who lives in California, used Shubhpuja’s services to conduct a puja that went on for three days.

“They would do the havan and chant the mantras for more than five hours during the day and pause at night. I was able to watch the entire process through Skype,”

says Gleave.

With ePuja, Shiva Kumar and Chetan Merchant connect over 3,600 temples across the country and help users book pujas. ! When the first orders came in from many politicians, Kumar and Merchant realised they were on to a good thing. The startup manages all requirements from finding a priest to buying all the items, and the 6,000 offerings are priced from Rs 1,150 to Rs 60,000.

“Remedy pujas drive business,” says Merchant, talking about rituals done in the belief that they can turn one’s fortunes around. “Legal issues, marriage, promotion at work — most orders come for remedying such matters,” says Merchant. The startup has raised Rs 20 crore from Brand Capital and is planning to launch a ‘priest at home’ service.

Pilgrimages are another essential component of faith, from the char dham yatra to the annual Haj. With an estimated two million Muslims travelling every year for Haj, Hyderabadbased ProudUmmah, founded by Abid Ali Khan, is looking to tap into this massive market.

When Khan went on Haj and saw firsthand the problems travellers faced, he set up the website in 2012.

“There are authorised travel agents, and the devotee has to go through them for all arrangements starting with the visa. While the industry is controlled, it remains unorganised,” says Khan. His company helps travellers get multiple quotes for Haj and Umrah packages and choose the best one.

With oil prices dropping and the Saudi Arabian government looking to multiple avenues for revenue generation, Khan says a lot of money is being poured into building infrastructure in Mecca. ProudUmmah is looking to crack the US and Canada market.

“Pilgrims have unique requirements. For instance, for people from the north who want to visit temples like Rameswaram in the south, we have identified people who are fluent with Hindi to help customers,” says Somaskandan.

One of the many challenges is winning the trust of the customer. ePuja makes sure the temple offering are sent to customers in the official envelopes of the temple. Somaskandan of Harivara does a background check on all priests and insists on their ‘pathshala’ certificate and other documents.

OnlinePrasad.com, founded by Goonjan Mall, sends updates to customers with the prasad and a report signed by the priest. The startup delivers prasad from 40 temples across the country and has started offering travel services as well as selling posters and gemstones. “We source rudraksh (seeds used as prayer beads) from farmers and test them to ensure purity,” says Mall, whose startup is funded by Meena and K Ganesh of GrowthStory, and Mumbai and Chennai Angels.

Suresh Gurukal, 34, head priest at Sri Kalahasti Temple in Andhra Pradesh, says online services suit the needs of the present generation. “I’m the eighth generation of my family serving the temple. If people can’t come to the temple, we take their details and conduct the puja on their behalf. I’m happy to help more people connect spiritually, whatever the means,” he says.

Investors are sure startups in religion and spirituality are good business propositions. Lakshmi Narayanan, former CEO of Cognizant, is an early investor in Harivara. “Many young professionals may not be very religious but enjoy certain aspects of rituals, and look forward to them as occasions to meet family and friends,” he says. “If the experience delivered during a religious ceremony is superior and hassle-free, it encourages consumers to create occasions to celebrate,” he says.

Ranjani.Ayyar

TOI26NOV17