Devotion is a very important need for hundreds and millions of people, but no app or platform comes to mind when one thinks about devotion. That is what AppsForBharat aims to address, said Prashant Sachan, CEO and Founder of Sri Mandhir app’s parent company.
Speaking at TechSparks 2024 in Bengaluru, Sachan highlighted that contrary to what one might think, their customer base primarily consists of young and middle-aged people.
“What we are realising is that for a lot of people who are young, middle aged, this (devotion) is an important need. And they want a platform through which they can connect better. Take care of these needs better,” he said.
Sri Mandhir, AppsForBharat’s first app, is used by people in the US and other markets abroad, besides India.
“We believe it’s (devotion) a very large market. Visibly so, half a billion people and another 50 million people worldwide need access to some of these services, information and whatnot,” he said.
According to Sachan, the devotion sector contributes about 2.3% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) through religious tourism, temple visits, and offerings.
While building the platform, the company had to first understand the demographic it is serving followed by their needs, and how AppsForBharat can solve them.
Today, the company has tied up with temples to offer high quality live streams of pujas, and people can make offerings to these temples from the comfort of their homes. The app also offers in-person arrangements at any of these temples with the help of local service providers.
“At this point in time, we are serving 10,000 people every single day,” Sachan said.
