BANGALORE: That opportunity is now spawning a whole variety of startups and online ventures. And many are taking advantage of the market’s fragmentation and low technology penetration.In God’s own country, Kerala, there’s Waves Hair that collects temple hair to create wigs and hair extensions for international markets. The company processes remy hair, the highest grade of human hair and which is synonymous with Indian temple hair, to stitch machine wefted hair extensions. These Indian locks are treated and styled to adorn the heads of customers overseas.“We source temple hair from Tirupati and other South Indian temples. It costs anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 25,000 for a kg of raw remy hair,” said Mallika Sreekumar , proprietor of Waves Hair. These hair extensions rake in big bucks in markets like the US and Europe.Goonjan Mall, founder of Online Prasad , not only now brings you prasad from different temples, but has also launched a first-of-its-kind private label brand, Zevotion, of hand-picked Rudraksha beads and yantras, connecting people to their faith. “Our research showed that about 80% of religious products sold in the country is counterfeit. Zevotion offers certified products assuring customers true value for their money,” said Mall, who quit his job as a senior analyst in consulting firm Bain & Co to launch Onlineprasad.com.Serial entrepreneur K Ganesh, who picked up 35% stake in Onlineprasad.com and is planning to participate in a fresh round of funding in the venture very soon, said that with 1.2 billion people and 330 million gods and goddesses in India, faith was price inelastic. “Devotees don’t take a decision to make a pilgrimage or visit a temple based on price,” he said.Online Prasad has a network of 50 temples, including Vaishno Devi, Shirdi Sai and Jagannath Puri, and charges Rs 501 to deliver prasad anywhere in the country in 7-10 working days. “We want to create a spiritual ecosystem to cater to devotional aspirations of people. Many temples in the country are not well managed, leading to leakage in the system,” Mall said.Vedic Vaani, founded by Mayank Goyal and Ashish Gandhi, is a similar venture, offering items related to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism on a single platform. Online Prasad does over 200 bookings daily and the number sees a sharp rise during festivals.For Muslims, there’s ProudUmmah. Hyderabad-based mechanical engineer Abid Khan quit Google to launch this startup that provides customized kits with 24 products related to Islamic pilgrimages Hajj and Umrah. The kits are priced between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,500 and contain prayer beads, maps of the pilgrimage, prayer mat, cloth etc.“We sold around 400 kits in the first year of operation and this year, we plan to do over a 1,000 kits,” said Khan, who sees a large opportunity in the US, UK and Australian markets.Ganesh said the country’s top 20 temples, including Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam and Vaishno Devi, collect Rs 5,000 crore as donations annually, while 500 mid-sized temples collect Rs 20,000 crore in donations every year. “There are another 1 lakh small temples and 10 lakh roadside temples collecting Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore as donations each year,” he said. That’s a phenomenal market that startups can disrupt with technology, and in some ways bring God closer to people.