Representative image.

Women from areas like Malleswaram prefer local boys, while Indiranagar and Koramangala like the out-of-towners, say dating apps

Bengaluru women prefer tall men; Delhi ladies swoon at a sense of humour; and Mumbai lasses like their men twinkle-toed. These are just a taste of the details gleaned from the various dating apps used by women (and men) across the country to find love, friendship, or simply the next booty call.

The dating app Woo, which has the 'TagSearch' feature, found that 31 per cent of Bengaluru's female users usually look for men who are 'great listeners', while 27 per cent of them need a prospective mate to be 'liberal at heart'.

According to Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of Woo, Bengaluru women are risk-takers and like their men to be so as well: "Bengaluru women prefer entrepreneurs over more stable jobs. Being an entrepreneur azis now considered cool. Also, Bengaluru women are more interested in relationships rather than hook-ups."

Woo reports that nearly 70 per cent of its female audience is from Koramangala, Indiranagar, Electronics City and Whitefield. Menon adds: "We have noticed that users in areas like Malleswaram and Basavangudi prefer local men rather than those from other cities. Hence we have more traffic from areas that see a larger population of non-locals."

Another popular dating app, Truly Madly, has over 1,20,000 users in Bengaluru, 31 per cent of whom are women. According to their trends, male doctors are the most sought-after. Women over the age of 30 have a high affinity with engineers and MBA degree-holders.

Rahul Kumar, co-founder of Truly Madly, says, "When women look at a man's educational background, they like Masters in Business, Bachelors in Engineering, Masters in Engineering and Bachelors in Business."

Taru Kapoor, Head - India, Tinder told BM that their audience in the city is largely tech-savvy and cosmopolitan.

"This audience is constantly up-to-date with emerging global trends, particularly from the technology world. Hence, unsurprisingly, Bengaluru has one of the largest Tinder user communities in India and is fast catching up with some of the top cities across the world. This is also because a lot of youngsters have moved to Bengaluru from different cities for work and Tinder helps them expand their social circle. For example, I recently met someone who has formed an alternative music band, and he met three of the four of his fellow band members on Tinder."

Ria Banerjee, a once-sceptical Tinder user, said: "It was sheer curiosity that made me download and use Tinder. I started to question the validity of all the people I met online. But out of the blue, I started talking to a guy stranger who had a very different 'bio'. It just contained certain information like his location and university and that was all, quite unlike other peppy descriptions. We started talking and I suggested we meet. A coffee 'meet-up' (we hate to call it a date) turned into a dinner and a two-hour post-dinner walk. I still don't believe my sheer luck that a dating app is actually helping me fill the void created years ago and I actually found someone who is an exact opposite. Waiting to discover what's more in store!"

