Astro speak: Time for a digital fix?

The ‘catch’ in our stars

As COVID-19 pandemic rattled every aspect of human life, online astrology came to the rescue for many. With rising online consultations, this market seems set for a boom.

The astrology market is estimated to be in the US$ 40-billion plus range, according to an analysis by Expert Market Research. These numbers indicate that the religious and spiritual market is booming. Within this market, the share of the Indian horoscopes market is US$ 10 billion alone. The number of practising astrologers is around 2 million.

Adding to that, this industry has seen a lot of new players. Take Astrotalk, for example. Its founder, Puneet Gupta, revealed that his company served 20+ million customers in the past 4 years. These numbers are simply astounding. The company does a business of around `41 lakh every day & has grown by 20% every month.

AstroYogi, a Gurugram-based astrology startup, has been looking to expand in the US, Canada, Africa, and other Spanish-speaking countries. In the past three years, the company registered a growth of about 300% YoY, which is helping it venture into new markets and acquisitions. The company recruited around 15,000 astrologers in FY

THE ‘STAR’ STRUCK MARKET!

• Life-changing conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a feeling of insecurity in people. As a result, they started connecting with astrologers through consultation sessions at variable rates.

• Many production houses,

Bollywood celebrities and directors bore the brunt of financial losses. So, they resorted to astrology and allied spiritual sciences.

• During their educational years as well as at various stages of their career, people are keen to know about their future prospects.

• Prospective brides and grooms are inquisitive about questions like when they will get hitched, how their partners will turn out and whether or not their marriage will work. 2020. Their customer base crossed 7 million on the cloud calling platform Talk to Astrologers & it is now earning estimated revenues of around ` 4-8 crore every year.

GROWTH PROSPECTS

According to the latest report by IMARC Group, with the advent of AI, astrology will become one of the fastest growing markets, with an expected CAGR of 10.2% by 2027. Educated professionals with a passion for astrology are also taking it up professionally and contributing to widen the circle by guiding people through quality consultations.

Interestingly, this is not restricted to India. Around 30% of people from the US believe in astrology in some form or another. This can be verified by the fact that more and more people are thronging to popular astrologers in spiritual destinations like Mathura, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Varanasi and Vrindavan. With the increase in Vedic Astro apps, these numbers are expected to increase further and contribute to market growth in the coming years.