Young professionals are subscribing to astrology alerts on mobiles to deal with recession
Young professionals are subscribing to astrology alerts on mobiles to deal with recession
Sanket Mishra, an employee of a financial firm in Noida, checks his mobile phone after every three hours to find what the future has in store for him. After many of his colleagues were served the pink slip in the last few
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Palm-talk: Future is the flavour of the season at Pragati Maidan too, where an exhibition on astrology is being organised. A palmist gets to work at the event on Thursday.
PIC/SUBHASH BAROLIA |
months, Mishra subscribed to a special astrology service that SMSes him predictions throughout the day. He doesn't even venture out of his workspace without consulting the mobile guruji. And for this starry help, he doesn't mind paying Rs 30 per month.
But Mishra is not alone.
Ashwini Kumar, a market researcher, is another member of the mobile astro club. "I blindly believe in astrology and start my day by reading the horoscope. I have subscribed to five horoscope alert services per day on my mobile phone. At times the predictions do not match situations, but I still believe them. I plan my day according to the horoscope," said Kumar.
With job cuts and financial troubles hitting the young professional hard, anxiety about the future is foremost on their mind. And they are leaving no stone unturned to secure their tomorrow. Telecom providers are cashing in on this obsession.
"The telecom market is expanding and so is the value-added-service sector. But under this sector, demand for astrology services has almost doubled during the last six months. We have enrolled four lakh users in the last six months as compared to the two lakh users who had subscribed to this service in the six-month period prior to that. One of the important reasons behind the growth of astrology services is the economic slowdown. People have become more dependent on stars now. They believe in living by lucky colours and gems," said Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Technologies, one of the astrology service providers on mobile phones.
According to the service providers, most of their users are working professionals between the age of 22 and 40 years and come from the metros.
This sudden boom has attracted many companies to join the bandwagon and each one is bettering the service. "Mobile astrology services have become very affordable and accessible. We are researching to make our service even better," said Saleem Mobhani of Hungama, another value-added-service provider.
