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Religious pilgrimage site, Make My Pilgrimage, looking to raise funds


KOLKATA: Small and mid-sized entrepreneurs are tapping into the disorganized yet lucrative $40 billion spirituality market in India. They see an opportunity in using technology to connect devotees to their places of worship.

Assam born Indraneel Dasgupta along with his friend Ankan Ganguli of Kolkata has floated an all-inclusive, religious pilgrimage and darshan site christened, Make My Pilgrimage (MMP). The website aims to connect pilgrims across the country and abroad to pilgrimage destinations of their choice.

“Singer Anup Jalota is our chief mentor and partner. MMP is at the early expansion stage. To reach out to the larger potential of the market, the startup is in negotiations with prospective investors for a capital infusion of around Rs 5 crore,” Dasgupta added. Credent Asset Management has been roped to help clinch a deal.

The startup offers end-to-end tours for pilgrims beginning from darshans to special pujas and connect Vaishno Devi and Amarnath in the north to Kamakhya and Jagannath in the east to Kashi Vishwanath and Mahakaleshwar in central India, to Shirdi and Ajmer in the west and to Madurai and Tirupati in the south, to Asthi-Visarjan at Haridwar to Pind-Daan at Gaya to Kal Sarpo Pujan at Trimbakeshwar, at any temple. The startup also assist pilgrims in their travel arrangements, sightseeing, hotel booking, homestay and ashram bookings as well as book special tours such as Amarnath, Char Dham and Kailash Mansarovar etc.

Elaborating on the startup floated in January 2019, Dasgupta said: “MMP assures a pilgrims ‘Me Time with God’. From package tours and darshans to customised trips, the startup aims to make the pilgrims time with God absolutely hassle free and personal.” MMP website helps the pilgrim to pre-book every service required including the priest and the puja.

MMP has tied up with leading yoga schools and institutions, astrologers’, ayurvedic doctors, hotels, travel agents, organic product manufacturers and also a leading medical tourism company aggregator of hospitals to provide medical help to all its pilgrims, if the need so arises. The bouquet of services MMP provides includes special care for the elderly and children, wheel chair services at select locations, first aid and food packets. They also facilitate priest services for household activities such as marriages, Griha Pravesh and any other house hold ceremonies, Ganguli pointed out.

Incidentally, MMP will be competing with the likes of online puja-booking startup Harivara founded by Arun Kumar Somaskandan.

Dasgupta is undettered. “According to Pew Global Attitude surveys, the perceived importance of religion in India is increasing with at least 40,000 – 50,000 people visiting each major shrine daily. Between 2007 and 2015, the share of respondents in India who perceived religion to be very important increased by 11% to 80%. Clearly, travel to religious destinations is perhaps the largest segment of the domestic travel business. In the last few years, the religious destinations has seen a resurgence particularly as young people also visit these places,” he said.





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