The stars seem to have aligned for online astrology ventures as many people have turned to astrology apps to deal with the uncertainty created by the pandemic. Companies in the sector that DH spoke to have seen a growth of 10-30% in the last few months.
During the first month of lockdown, online astrology app AstroTalk saw a drop of about 10% in revenue but post-April, it has been seeing consistent month-on-month growth of 10%. Revenue on the platform has increased 35% from Rs 14 lakh a day in April to Rs 19 lakh a day in October.
"People have also started asking about finance and career during this time, along with normal queries of love, relationship, and marriage. Before Covid, more than 85% of the queries were related to relationships only," says Puneet Gupta, Founder & CEO, AstroTalk.
AstroSage, which claims to have a 50% market share of users with over 40 million app downloads, asserts a 100% increase in the first post-pandemic quarter.
Another online astrology consulting company AstroYogi has seen a 20% surge in terms of users, and a 30% rise in astrologers' interest to join the network.
A lot of astrologers have left their offline work and are joining astrology apps during the pandemic. The primary reasons being caution adopted by customers to visit offices in the physically-distanced Covid world and the sheer number of consultations that can be handled through online platforms.
The Indian spiritual and religious market is estimated to be over $40 billion (Rs 2.97 lakh crore), according to media reports. Out of this, the horoscopes market in India alone is $10 billion (Rs 74,500 crore), with about 2 million astrologers practising astrology, according to a YourStory report.
Delhi-based AstroBuddy also witnessed a 35-40% surge when the lockdown started. Now it is growing at a pace of 15-20% month-on-month.
"The younger generation has suddenly started taking a keen interest. Especially students and freshers who were keen to start their professional lives. All of a sudden, they are facing so much uncertainty that they have become apprehensive," Says Bhupesh Sharma, an astrologer and co-founder AstroBuddy.
Online astrology app LinkAstro was launched amid the pandemic in August, which was initially scheduled for a launch in November 2020, because of an increasing interest in astrology consultations. Within two months of the launch, the platform got more than 4,500 app installs.
Vedic astrology app Tvam also claims to have seen a 50-60% jump in users. Talking about the conversion of offline users to online, Saurabh Mohnot, co-founder, Tvam says, "While the difficulties in meeting an astrologer face to face has certainly had a role to play in the rise of online consultations, the primary reason for people seeking astrological help still seems to be the uncertain times we are currently in."