Online astrology is booming in pandemic times

Mumbai: How will my stock portfolio do today? Will I keep my job? Will I get Covid-19? Indians’ faith in astrology has grown stronger with the unfolding of the corona crisis and the business of online astro consulting is booming. Big portals in this business say they have seen 200% to 500% rise in calls and subscriptions since lockdown began and the trend is carrying on. Astrologers helming ‘Fortune-Mantra’, the vertical predicting stock market movements at astroconsulting firm GaneshaSpeaks.com, field hundreds of calls on trading days. The portal says FortuneMantra has seen a 200% growth in subscribers since lockdown. “Traders and investors want to know if a particular day is good for investing,” says Hemang Pandit, founder of GaneshaSpeaks.com. And there are people who worry about health as much as others worry about wealth. And about jobs, and even whether relationships will last the crisis. Portals say many subscribers or daily callers, who can pay a piece rate for consultations, start with a topic like investment or jobs and end up asking whether they will catch the coronavirus. Arun Nair, CEO of Astro-Vision, says: “Our revenues have seen a 33% spike, and if you compare it to last year, it is up over 100%”. “We-’re seeing massive traffic from Maharashtra, Haryana, UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan,” Nair adds. Astro-Vision prepares astrological charts for paying customers. Platforms such as GaneshaSpeaks.com and Astroyogi say they have hundreds of astrologers. Consulting charges range between Rs 20 and Rs 40 per minute. Ganeshaspeaks.com’s Pandit says the portal employs 500 astrologers and daily consultations are between 8,000 to 10,000. Astroyogi says it employs over 2,000 astrologers, and claims a five-fold jump in business. Apart from offering astrological consultations, Chennai-based Astroved also offers “remedial services” (mostly rituals) to its domestic clients as well as those abroad. Ramu Karan, a director at Astroved, says the portal arranges “remedial pujas” that clients can virtually participate in. “A person in the US can participate in a puja done in Chennai.” So when will Covid-19 peak in India, ET asked Ganeshaspeaks.com. After September 20, is their astrological prediction.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2UKPyQ0