How India’s spiritual tech startups are monetizing faith for the algorithm age

When COVID-19 lockdowns swept crossed India successful 2020, they brought religious beingness to a halt. Temples were shuttered, ample gatherings banned, and in-person rituals suspended - galore for the archetypal clip successful surviving memory. Millions of devotees were abruptly chopped disconnected from their accustomed spiritual routines, from regular temple visits and bhajans (community singing sessions) to life-cycle ceremonies similar weddings and past rites. In the northbound Indian metropolis of Kanpur, Mohit Tiwari, a 35-year-old priest, began receiving calls from anxious devotees seeking ways to proceed their spiritual practices astatine home. Without entree to priests oregon temple services, galore turned to telephone calls and video links for guidance. That's erstwhile the thought for his startup struck.

"I realized we could bash everything virtually whether it is spiritual mantras, offerings oregon rituals, based connected an individual's sanction and gotra [ancestral lineage]. There was nary request for carnal presence," said Tiwari, who past founded OnlinePujaBooking.com, a "spiritual tech" institution offering a assortment of accepted Hindu rituals that tin beryllium booked online and performed virtually via unrecorded video.

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.