Explainer: All you need to know about the IIT-IIM matrimonial website and why it’s getting trolled

A matrimonial website has recently caught the attention of people on social media, and not in a good way. The website, IIT IIM Shaadi{dot}com, is made exclusively for alumni of IITs, IIMs and other prestigious institutes of the country. The tagline reads “Alma Mater Matters”, which also happens to be the company’s registered name, with a picture of the brand ambassador Karan Johar. So what really has irked the netizens? Why are tweet threads dismissing the concept and the founder in the same breath? Let’s find out: What is IITIIMShaadi.com Even though the matrimonial website has just been launched into popularity by backlash from the internet people, it has been around for quite some time. As per the ‘About Us’ section of the website, it was launched in April 2014. The Alma Mater Matter Pvt Ltd is an “exclusive lounge to explore matrimonial alliances among alumni of premier educational institutions”. With members in India and 50 other countries, the website claims to stand out of the crowd by authenticating each profile “on the basis of education by screening their institution’s degree, ID-card/mark sheet etc”. The eligibility criteria on the same page read - “fundamentally we invite registration from alumni of top few Indian and Global Institutions irrespective of the field of study”. The matrimony service “wishes to cover Engineering, Management, Architecture, Medicine, Finance, Law, Fashion Design, Theater, Media Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Music, Dance , Culinary Arts, Historic Preservation, Animal Psychology and you name it”. It also looks kindly upon senior government officers, while showing an “indicative list of institutions” that is “by no means exhaustive”. In response to one of its frequently asked questions, the website reveals that the service has over 1,50,000 registered individuals. It has about 30,000 active and authenticated members. Why is it facing backlash? Starting from brand ambassador Karan Johar’s message in a video where he says the purpose of the service is to match people who are “mentally” compatible, to the entire idea behind the website has the internet irked.

To give a decent dose of irony to the concept is its founder, Taksh Gupta, who is not a graduate from IITs or IIMs. As per the website, Gupta graduated from SP Jain School of Management. A Twitter user by the handle @verysanskarii started this conversation on the social media platform, which has garnered nearly 6,000 likes.

People were ready to troll Gupta and Johar as neither of them are alumni of IITs or IIMs.

Some also argued that concepts like this only cater to divide the society further by suggesting institutional compatibility over mental compatibility as a priority for tying the knot.

With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .