Boom time for spiritual apps: Diwali braces for surge in user activity

Creators of spiritual and devotional apps are expecting a surge in business this Diwali, after the expansion of services such as online puja and virtual offerings to the deity during Navratri led to a sharp rise in user participationindustry executives said.

The tastes of Applications for Bharat, Vama.application, Astrotalk and Devdham They witnessed significant growth this Navratri, which ended on October 12, and are gearing up for Diwali, which falls on November 1, they said.

“Thanks to Navratri, we launched new products and services,” Manu Jain, founder of Blume Ventures, endorsed Vama.applicationhe told ET. “As a result, we are seeing a 20-25% (month-over-month) increase in new users overall. Our revenue for the last week of September so far shows weekly growth of over 20%.”

New Delhi-based startup allows users to book virtual biddingas well as darshans and temple rituals, in addition to offering astrology services.

“There are more organic searches on the platform. However, I expect a significant increase closer to Diwali as the real festive period is around then. So, we are planning everything for the last week of October,” Jain said.

Prashant Sachan, founder of AppsForBharat, the parent company of Sri Mandir, said that during the recent holy period of Shravan, the platform saw around 850,000 darshans and 12,000 devotees participating in online puja.

Covering more temples

“For Diwali, we are expanding to Meenakshi Chokkanathar temple in Madurai and Etteluthu Perumal temple in Tirunelveli, which are expected to contribute 20% to the user acquisition plan,” said Sachan of Applications for Bharat.

The company, which recently raised $18 million from Fundamentum and existing backers such as Peak XV and Elevation Capital, expanded its services for Navratri, offering virtual offerings and personalized prasad deliveries to various temples.

Around 15,000 users offered more than 50,000 items to the deities during this period, and 35% of the revenue came from foreign users.

“This season, we are witnessing an increase in user engagement and anticipate continued growth in engagement as our app is now available in five regional languages, with three more to be added to deepen our reach across India “said Sachan.

The flourishing religious trends and spiritual applications The segment has attracted significant investments from venture capital companies. On July 7, ET reported that a post-pandemic surge in online participation and a growing interest in spiritual practices had revived the fortunes of apps offering spiritual and devotional services.

online astrology Digital bidding and services have seen greater acceptance among young consumers, challenging the belief that they are primarily for millennials, according to the report.

Noida-based Astrotalk, which recently raised $9.4 million in equity capital, plans to enter the devotional segment, beyond its core astrology services, people in the know said.

Devotional platform DevDham (formerly DevDarshan), backed by Titan Capital, also saw growth during the Shravan season, with a further spike in engagement during Pitru Paksha in September, when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors.

“We saw a 30-35% increase in new transactions during the Shravan and Pitru Paksha period, with 60% existing users and 40% new users,” its co-founder Pranav. Kapoor customs ET.

Noida-based DevDham also launched low-cost items for Navratri such as chunni, saree, shringar, thaali and kumkum offerings for the goddess. An increase in users online for puja is expected on Dhanteras (October 29) and Diwali.

“We have also launched other products related to various rituals. We are seeing significant interest from customers, including many repeat buyers, and we expect this to increase,” Kapoor said.