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Our Bureau

Chennai , Oct. 1

APART from advertising aggressively on print and television with an ad budget of Rs 20 crore, marriage portal, BharatMatrimony.com, is also planning to increase its focus on sponsorships and below-the-line promotions.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Michael M. Bala, head of operations, said that the company would be sponsoring the Miss India USA contest in New Jersey this year.

"The winners of this contest would participate in the Miss India Worldwide contest scheduled to held in Mumbai in January 2005." Mr Bala said that the Web site would be open to sponsoring similar contests in other countries also, as more than 30 per cent of its target audience are non-resident Indians.

The company has also launched a loyalty programme called Value Plus for its subscribers for which it has tied up with more than 100 vendors across the country to help them to organise a wedding ceremony. "We have tied up with jewellers, sari shops and decorators across the country. The members of the loyalty programme can download Value Plus coupons from the Web site and get discounts," said Mr Bala.

The Web site has also launched a wedding directory, which according to Mr Bala is a virtual directory that contains information on all kinds of businesses related to the wedding industry. He said that the company, to start with, has launched two directories for the Indian and the US markets, but is shortly planning to launch city-specific directories.

Bharat Matrimony currently has two million registered subscribers. Mr Bala hopes to attain the eight million mark by the year-end.

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