Many Christians have also begun relying on their

smartphones to remain connected with their church

and get Bible alerts and gospel readings for the day.

"In church, a certain passage is read out every day. I

have an app that sends me passages and a prayer every
day," says Smitha Thomas, who takes her iPhone instead
of Bible to church every Sunday.

Religious institutions have been creating apps. Jegan

Selvaraj is creating one for a Protestant church in
Tuticorin. "The pastor has more than two lakh followers
all over the world and wanted to send daily Bible
verses," says Selvaraj. While the app will be free, users
will have to pay 50 to 100 to download albums and
videos of hymns.

While many of the apps are free, users don't mind

shelling out a bit. "You have to pay only once and most
are cheap," says Thomas. "I can remain in touch with
my church without having to step into the physical
space."

Mobile apps bring religion to your

fingertips
Priya M Menon| TNN | Updated: Apr 18, 2013, 06.20AM IST / chennai
Retrived from : https://www.gadgetsnow.com/it-services/Mobile-apps-bring-
religion-to-your-fingertips/articleshow/19607824.cms

Indians pray to a multitude of Gods in multiple situations: good, bad, and ugly. Even as parts of the
world wage wars in the name of God and religion, other parts drive economies even as they invoke the
almighty. Especially true of a multi-religious country like ours. No wonder then that religion and
spirituality is approximately a Rs 2.5 lakh crore market in India (roughly $40 billion).

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/53399047.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Is India ready for a branded player in the $40 billion religion & spirituality market?
By
Shephali Bhatt
Jul 27, 2016, 04.11 PM IST

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/53399047.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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.

Indias spiritual and

religious market is
estimated to be over $30
billion
Shilpa Phadnis| TNN | Feb 23, 2014, 06.03 AM IST
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indias-spiritual-and-religious-
market-is-estimated-to-be-over-30-billion/articleshow/30881651.cms

__________________________________________

MyMandir seeks to provide its citizens with a social network for their
devotional needs. MyMandir has a Facebook-like timeline that lets users
follow activities from Mandirs across the country. Mandirs can upload
pictures and videos of their aartis, and devoting throngs can keep up with
the activities from the convenience of their homes. While Facebook lets
users like, love and heart posts, MyMandir does better users can not only
like updates (pasand), and also digitally do a pranam, present flowers, light
a diya, or even ring the ceremonial bell.

The app also lets people upload their own religious pictures and videos, and
other MyMandir users can follow their updates. Some people appear to have
built sizable followings MyApp maintains a leaderboard of the most
popular content creators. Narendra Pathanaia Rajpoot from Himachal
Pradesh, who published the most popular post on the site over the last 24
hours, has 3,240 followers.

This Indian App Is Basically

Facebook For Religion, And It
Has 200k Downloads
Posted on August 21, 2017 by OfficeChai Team
https://officechai.com/startups/indian-app-basically-facebook-religion-200k-
downloads/#sthash.vvJ0gRn1.dpbs

_______________________________

What is new, however, is internet entrepreneurs viewing the large

market for faith-based services as a business opportunity. Were
trying to add a professional element to puja, which hasnt been done
before, Vardhan, who is also Shubhpujas CEO, says. The goal is to
provide very customized, authentic pujas for her customers. In
general, modern technology seems to have accelerated, rather than
dampened, Indian spending on religion. In 2012, about 20-25
percent of total mobile downloads were for religious or devotional
content, compared to 15-20 percent in 2010. Vedicvaani.com,
launched around the same time as Shubhpuja, is a religious item
shop that offers more than 2,000 products for sale. For Indias 177
million Muslims, startups like Hajjnet have developed mobile apps to
help those making the holy annual pilgrimage to Mecca organize the
logistics of their trip.

Another one of these startups, OnlinePrasad, offers prasad (small

blessed offerings, usually food) for sale from top temples all around
India. Traditionally, one goes to a temple to receive prasad in person,
but with OnlinePrasad you can have the holy package shipped right to
your door from a temple hundreds of miles away. OnlinePrasad also
sells tickets for special expedited temple visits called Quick
Darshan, ensuring maximum convenience for those making
religious pilgrimages. Like Vardhan at Shubhpuja, OnlinePrasads
founder Goonjan Mall also has a consulting background, and left
Bain & Co. to bootstrap the startup in 2012, out of a frustration with
the often crowded and mismanaged temple experience that persists
through most of India. Mall told a reporter for CNBC that the idea
came in a flash: Religion must be simplified and technology was
the perfect tool to do so in India.

Uber for God: Inside Indias Religious Tech

Industry
By Ajay Mehta
December 10, 20158:00 am

http://nymag.com/selectall/2015/12/uber-for-god.html

A number of Islamic apps are easing the lives of Muslims who want to read
english translations of the Quran or know the exact Namaz timings. More
and more are relying on Namaz apps which provide the right timings and
also provide alerts for the forgetful ones.

According to The Times of India, Other apps allow users to set azan
ringtones, gives them access to the Hadith (Prophet s sayings), Muslim
cuisine, Arabian Tales and even calculating the correct amount to give
away as religious donations (zakat). One such user expresses his delight at
such apps saying,
Smartphone have changed our lives so much! Not just timings,
I am greatly benefited by one application that helps me
translate the Quran into English and read it.

Heres How Muslims Are Leading An

Appening Religious Life!
written by Chrisanta Dias November 14, 2015
Retrieved from:
http://www.networkedindia.com/2015/11/14/heres-how-muslims-
are-leading-an-appening-religious-life/