A dedicated, loving partnership is a lovely thing. It is about two people who decide to form a partnership. It is also about the meeting of two families.

Currently, marriage is the preferred socially acceptable option when it comes to long-term commitment. It is something that families plan for even before their children reach adolescence. However, times are changing and single Indians are looking for other alternatives to a committed relationship. While many are getting married, many are also entering into domestic partnerships or opting for companionship as a long-term committed relationship.

A domestic partnership or living together is when the couple lives and shares their life as someone who is married but without a legal contract. Companionship is when a committed couple decides to live in their own homes while in a long-term relationship.

Sharing her views on the relationship scenario, Shalini Singh, Founder of andwemet, states that "Matchmaking was traditionally synonymous with marriage. However, with changing times, single Indians seek other types of commitment, such as companionship and domestic partnerships besides marriage. That is where andwemet comes in. We provide a service in which like-minded individuals can form a meaningful relationship, which may not necessarily result in a marriage"

To seek further clarification on the same, andwemet surveyed their community members aged between 25-35 years old from Tier A Indian cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore and came up with the following results:

Seek a committed relationship but fear marriage

According to the platform's subscribers, 80 per cent of them would like to be in a committed relationship without giving it a label. Whereas 65 per cent of them did show an interest in marrying after their relationship passes the test of time.

Most of them believe that marriage is only a label and that they value commitment and a healthy relationship more than the label. More women than men also worry that marriage will change things in their relationship, especially because of societal expectations. Post marriage, women are expected to undergo adjustments in their lives, such as changing their last name in all official records, giving up on their birth home, considering their married home to be theirs, and adhering to the ways of their "new home". For the woman, there is a sense of a "change of ownership" from her parent's house to her married home, which many times can result in a loss of identity and an inability to grasp, the question arises why?

The female subscribers stated that marriage makes them feel overwhelmed, which they wish to avoid, and they wish to focus on their relationship to make it stronger.

Domestic Partnership

Successful long-term partnerships understand the importance of partners always expressing their emotions to one another. Yes, this is legal in India and is known as a domestic partnership. A domestic partnership is regarded as the legal equal of marriage and avoids the financial strain of a traditional wedding.

However, given our deeply ingrained cultural conventions, people seeking domestic partnerships must feel quite safe from within and locate a partner who shares their viewpoint.

According to andwemet's survey, 30 per cent of their subscribers are willing to form domestic partnerships with their love interests rather than tie the knot of marriage, whereas 5 per cent of subscribers even plan to have babies or adopt them in the future if the relationship turns out to be fruitful.