Indian matrimony in Australia & New Zealand
Built for Australia and New Zealand. Not filtered for it.
Everywhere else, Australia and New Zealand are two dropdowns on a database built for India. Here they are the whole map — whether your family landed last year or you have never lived anywhere else.
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Free for women, always. No payment to look, and we will not ask for your number. Every city in this list is a city we are building for, not a filter on a database in India.
- 51
- women matching one ordinary search on the largest site — in all of Australia*
- 8
- the same search, in all of New Zealand*
- 10 : 1
- men per woman there, against 1.15 : 1 in the census†
*Counted on Shaadi.com on 19 September 2026, logged in, filtering for a Sikh woman aged 27–33. †Roughly ten men per woman in the founder’s own searches on Shaadi.com in 2026. The census figure is the Sikh population of Australia, ABS 2021: about 112,000 men and 97,000 women.
01
Photos wait for a yes
Private photos stay private until she accepts his interest or approves his request, and then they see each other’s. She can withdraw hers later without telling him, and men have the same control over their own.
02
She chose to be found
Every member sets who can search them: all approved members, only people who match their preferences, or nobody but their matchmaker.
03
Every interest is written
by hand, with a note of at least forty characters. Nobody can bulk-send, so her inbox is real people rather than three hundred taps.
04
No phone numbers, ever
Contact details are never displayed at any membership level. She shares them herself, after she has said yes.
The point of all this
Not an app you open every day for a year. A few good introductions, one wedding, and then you delete it.
That is why it is free for women, why every interest has to be written by hand, and why we refund up to 12 months of Search when it works.
The problem
The women exist. They've just stopped showing up.
In the census our community is close to evenly split. On the biggest site, the founder counted roughly ten men for every woman. That gap isn't demographic. It's what those sites do to her.
- 01
She is put on display
On the big sites her photo is visible by default to every member who searches, and on some, to anyone at all without an account. Her cousin, her colleague and the uncle from the gurdwara or the mandir can all scroll past it. In a community this small, that alone keeps her away.
- 02
She gets a flood
An interest there is a tap, often a pre-written line, and paid members can send them by the hundred. Most come from men who never read her profile, so she stops opening the app, and then she deletes it.
- 03
Nobody speaks for her
Matchmaking on the big sites is a premium extra, sold separately. On the site itself there is no one to make an approach on her behalf, ask the awkward questions, or carry a "no" back without anybody losing face.
So we built Rishta the other way round.
A note from the founder
I spent six months on a paid plan on the biggest matrimonial site in the world, searching honestly for someone to marry from here. I found roughly ten men for every woman, a paid plan that produced nothing, and a fake profile I could make in minutes.
The census says our community is almost evenly split. So the women exist. They have just decided, correctly, that a public grid and three hundred strangers a week is not for them.
Rishta is what I wished had existed: women free with nothing held back, photos hidden until she says yes, every profile ID-checked before it goes live, every interest written by hand, no phone numbers on the page, and a matchmaker who is never from your own town. I built it because I am looking too.
Founder, Auckland · Read the research
How it works
Different for her. Different for him.
For her · free, always
- 1
Join in two minutes
No photos and no documents required to start. When you add photos they are private by default, and stay that way until you approve each person individually.
- 2
Choose who can find you
All approved men, only men who match your preferences, or only Rishta matchmakers. The default is preferences-only, and you can change it any time. You can hide entirely and nothing is deleted.
- 3
Search, or be found
Search approved men yourself, or let the interests come to you — each one carrying a note he had to write by hand. And if you would rather someone else made the approach, a matchmaker is there, as a paid service.
For him · from $39/month
- 1
Check your ID to go live
A code to your mobile, then your passport or licence and a selfie. Everyone here has done it, and that is the reason a reply here means something.
- 2
Set your preferences honestly
You see the women who chose to be found by men like you. Open her profile and it shows, point by point, how many of her preferences you actually meet — including the ones you do not.
- 3
Search and write to her
Every interest carries a note you wrote. Her photos appear when she approves you; a conversation opens when she accepts. Want someone to do the searching for you? That is the Vichola tier.
The Vichola — your personal matchmaker
Somebody who speaks for you.
The vichola is the person who has always done this work in every Indian community — knows both families, makes the approach, asks what nobody wants to ask directly. The big sites turned her into a premium add-on. We kept the search box and brought her back as a real person from the community.
She is a real person
Your matchmaker is a named woman from the community, paid properly for the work, and you can ask for someone else without giving a reason.
Never from your own city
Your matchmaker is never from your own city, so she will not run into you at a wedding or know your family through a friend.
She negotiates on your behalf
On the Vichola tier she approaches families for you, handles expectations and timelines, and carries the difficult answers both ways.
Software helps her, not replaces her
Her private notes on your file and every conversation with you sit in one place, so you never have to repeat yourself. The judgement is hers.
Built in, not promised
Privacy you don't have to trust us on.
Most platforms put privacy on a policy page. We put it in the structure, so it holds even on a bad day.
Read the full safety approach →- Private by default, whoever you are
- Your photos are hidden until you say yes to a specific person: accept their interest, or approve their request, and you see each other’s. Men choose this too — privacy here is not a women-only feature. Not a paid upgrade, not a toggle you have to go looking for.
- You decide who can find you
- Visible to every approved member, only to people who match your preferences, or only to Rishta matchmakers. The default is preferences-only, and there are no public profile pages for anyone. Search engines never see a member.
- ID-checked, or invisible
- Everyone checks their ID before going live, and a person looks over every new profile the same day. Until then you cannot search and nobody can find you. Nobody appears just because they filled in a form.
- A real ID, a real face
- Photograph your passport or licence, then your face. Didit checks the document is genuine and that the live face matches it, and, if your profile has photos by then, that your main photo is the same person. It takes about two minutes and costs you nothing. We are told the result and the name, age and gender on the ID, never the photos of your document.
- No firehose
- Every interest has to carry a note someone wrote by hand, at least forty characters of it, so nobody can bulk-send. There is no daily quota to spend and no button that fires a hundred taps at once.
- Talk without giving out your number
- Once you have accepted someone you can call them, voice, straight from the conversation. It goes between your two phones and never through us. Either of you can ask to turn cameras on mid-call, and the other has to agree first. You can switch calls off entirely and still write to people.
- Contact details are never displayed
- No phone number and no email on any profile, ever, at any membership level, and nothing you can buy reveals one. You share them yourself, one person at a time, after you have said yes. The single exception is the Icebreaker, where you type a number in for one call, only your matchmaker sees it, the other person never does, and it is erased afterwards.
- A leak can be traced
- When someone enlarges your photo it carries their own member number across it, not yours. If a picture turns up somewhere it should not be, the number on it says who took it.
- Hiding works both ways
- Hide your profile and nobody can find you, open you, or write to you. While you are hidden you cannot browse or write to anyone either. That is deliberate: it is a pause, not a one-way mirror. Conversations you have already accepted carry on.
- Gone in one tap
- Delete a profile and it is deleted, along with your photos, messages and interests. No retention, no “reactivate your account” email six months later.
- A real email and a real phone
- Every member confirms their email with a code and gives a mobile number when they join, so a fake account takes more than a throwaway address. Your number is never shown to other members.
Pricing
She pays nothing. He pays for a search where women actually reply.
Women
Free to search, always
Searching, photos, interests, messages and calls. Forever, with no upgrade prompt. The matchmaker services below are paid, the same as they are for men.
Men · Search
$39/month
or $99 for 3 months, paid once: just over a dollar a day
Search approved profiles yourself, with the controls that make women reply.
Men · Vichola — your personal matchmaker
$1,199/3 months
A matchmaker reads your file, searches on your behalf, and brings you people.
The Success Refund: marry someone you met here and we refund up to 12 months of Search.
Full pricing and FAQ →Before you join
The questions everybody asks.
Is Rishta free for women?
Women never pay to search, to be found, to add photos, or to talk — including voice calls. That is free forever. Men pay a monthly membership for the same things. The matchmaker services are a separate, paid product for everyone, because a real person is doing the work.
Who can see my photos?
Nobody, until you say yes to them. Accepting someone’s interest, or approving their photo request, shows your photos to that one person, and theirs to you. Photos are private by default for both men and women. You can also make them visible to everyone who can find you, or add none and let your initial stand in, and you can withdraw someone’s access at any time without telling them.
Do I have to check my ID?
Yes, everyone does, men and women alike, before going live. It keeps out fake profiles and time-pass, so everyone here is real and serious about marriage. Didit reads your passport or licence, checks it is genuine and matches it to your live face. We are told the result and the name, age and gender on the ID, never the photos of your document. If you cannot do it, our team can check you on a short video call instead. When a family member makes the profile, the person on it does the check, from a link on their own phone.
Will my profile show up on Google?
No. There are no public profile pages on Rishta. Members are only ever visible to other signed-in, approved members, and only to the people you have chosen can find you.
Does anyone see my phone number or email?
They are never displayed on a profile, at any membership level, and there is nothing anyone can buy that reveals one. You share them yourself, directly, once you have decided you want to. The one exception is if you book an Icebreaker call: you type a number in for that single call, only the matchmaker hosting it can see it, the other person never does, and it is erased when the call is over.
Is Rishta only for people who moved here recently?
No. Rishta is built as much for someone born in Melbourne or Auckland as for someone who grew up in Punjab or Gujarat. Residency and willingness to relocate are filters you can use or ignore, not assumptions we make about you.
Which communities is Rishta for?
Rishta serves Indian families across Australia and New Zealand, first generation and third alike. It started with the Punjabi and Sikh community and is built just as much for Hindi-speaking, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayali, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Muslim, Christian, Fiji Indian, Sri Lankan Tamil and Nepali families. Religion, community, mother tongue, diet and family origin are separate filters, and “no bar” is always an option.
Can I talk to someone without giving them my phone number?
Yes. Once you have accepted an interest you can call each other from inside the conversation. It is voice by default, the audio goes directly between your two phones rather than through us, and no number is ever exchanged. Video is only possible if one of you asks mid-call and the other agrees. You can turn calls off completely in settings.
What happens if I delete my account?
It is deleted. Your profile, photos, messages and interests are removed, not archived, and we do not email you months later asking you to come back.
Where is my data stored?
Profiles, messages and photos are stored in Cloudflare’s Oceania region, not in India, the US or Europe. A few services see only what they need to do their job: our email provider sees your address and the emails we send you, the ID-check service is used only if you choose the check, and WhatsApp carries the message you send to confirm your mobile. The Privacy Policy lists them all.
Still wondering something? Ask us directly.
Join today.
Women join and search free. Men join with Search, $39 a month or $99 for 3 months. Everyone checks their ID before going live.