55% married Indians have cheated on their spouses, most are women: Survey

NEW DELHI: About 55% of married Indians have been unfaithful to their partner at least once, of which 56% are women, according to latest survey by Gleeden, India’s first extramarital dating app.

In fact, 48% of Indians believe that it is possible to be in love with two people at the same time, while 46% think that one can cheat on a person while still being in love with them. This is probably why Indians are ready to forgive their partners in case they found out about the affair--7% would forgive the partner without a second thought, while 40% would do so if the circumstances were extenuating. Similarly, they expect to be forgiven by their partner (69%).

This research was conducted among 1,525 Indian married individuals between the age of 25 and 50, across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

Gleeden, which arrived in India in April 2017, reported eight lakh subscribers in the country at last count. It hit a boom in membership after the 2018 Supreme Court judgment that decriminalised adultery and said the law was against right to equality and life. The judgment was also seen as a move against patriarchy and gender inequality. That said, the survey reported that divorce rate in India is the lowest in the world at 1%, where only 13 split of every 1,000 couples. 90% of Indian marriages are still fixed by families and only 5% of the couples marry for love.

Further, 49% of married people in India confessed of having had an intimate relationship with someone other than their spouse, while almost 5 out of 10 have already indulged in casual sex (47%) or one-night stands (46%). Indian women are the most uninhibited towards infidelity--41% of them admitted of having had regular sexual intercourses with someone other than the spouse, against 26% men. 53% of Indian married women admitted having already had an intimate relationship outside their marriage, against 43% men.

“Indian women seem particularly open-minded about infidelity, especially when it involves romance. Gleeden offers a virtual environment where you can start a new love story with like-minded individuals without the downside of a real-life affair. Women can have the full romantic experience, resting ensured that their privacy will be fully protected, and their secret will remain safe. That’s why Gleeden is attracting a bigger number of female users every day, it provides them with privacy, discretion, and a choice of partners way beyond their usual circles,” Solene Paillet, marketing director of Gleeden, said in a statement.