Organising the unorganised wedding services

With his new offering, wedmantra.com, a portal for all the wedding needs, he aims to structure this largely unorganised market, which is the third largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Indian wedding market is estimated to be worth $60 billion as one and a half crore weddings happen in the country every year.

“With no MRP for the services rendered, the wedding business can be an expensive affair for the families. Also, finding and selecting decorators, caterers and other vendors can be an arduous task,” says Wedmantra founder Vishnu Induri.

The portal cuts short a customer’s marathon run for wedding needs by providing a list of over 3,500 vendors across 14 categories along with a bidding platform wherein the customers can quote their amount for a certain event and interested vendors would contact them.

“It’s a win-win situation for vendors too as they get wider exposure and more customers,” Vishnu says, whose business recently took to the online mode after working in the brick and mortar model for four years.

The portal garnered Rs 8 crore revenues through online transactions. Interestingly, such a model also eases the pressure on vendors who are subjected to a lot of window shopping.

Wedmantra plans to rake up its portfolio by having 10,000 vendors by year end. However, Vishnu points out that every vendor will have to go through a thorough background check before being listed on the portal.

They are currently focusing on major metro cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai and will soon be opening offices in the tier-two cities.

Vishnu also plans to make significant investments in research and development (R&D) and in hiring. Wedmantra is Vishnu’s third venture after Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) and Bharatstudents.com, which he exited after a stint of six years. However, he did not disclose the details of the deal.

Vishnu is also gearing up for the fourth edition of the celebrity gaming franchise.