Tinder’s India GM Talks Bumble Competition in New Interview

Tinder’s India General Manager Taru Kapoor has been interviewed by Quartz about the recent inclusivity moves the company has been making.

India is Tinder’s number one market in Asia and the dating app has climbed to be its number one grossing Android app.

However, the uptake from women has often been slow. Tinder has been trying to maintain a more even gender ratio by introducing a Bumble-esque women-first feature called ‘My Move’.

Kapoor explained to Quartz: “In our society, women face a lot more barriers and judgement. The agency that Tinder provides is levelling the playing field by taking away the unsolicited attention. You have a lot more control over interactions and the freedom to express yourself.

“My Move was an attempt to allow women to have more control over their experience and really have this true choice in navigating the platform in a way that works best for them.”

Bumble is moving into the Indian market at the end of 2018 and has enlisted the help of Priyanka Chopra to ensure a successful country launch.

According to Kapoor, Tinder is not overly concerned by the new competition.

She said: “Competitors come and go. We are not really focused on market share. We are the market leader. We’ve done that because we focused on giving value to our users. As long as users find our experience great, we’ll probably continue to grow.”

Tinder has also recently added over 20 new gender options for Indian users to choose from, a possibility that has been available in the USA since 2016.

Kapoor said that now was the right time to introduce the options in India to “send a message about inclusiveness, acceptance, and equality,” and called 2018 a landmark year for equality in India.

In early September, the Indian Supreme Court legalised gay sex and ordered that discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation is a violation of rights.

Read the full interview here.