the tourist guide says educated women are still conservative but women ask how thats possible given everyone they know is on dating apps popular even in the smaller towns dating is uncommon in india educated women are still conservative and politely decline when asked out they dont even shake hands much let alone display other gestures of affection this is the gist of the ninth edition of the travellers guide and scholars manual released by the indian council for cultural relations iccr recently the handbook is one of the foremost travellers guides for foreign tourists in india the guide maintains that though educated women have set aside inhibitions dating is where they draw the line educated women have cast aside many customary inhibitions they will talk to the student when he is introduced to themthe modern indian woman is traditional in some ways she may refuse politely if a man asks her out for a film or outing dating is not common in india it says but is dating in india really so uncommon urban indian women at least poohpooh the suggestion and now thanks to the rapidly growing popularity of dating apps both in the metros and smaller towns there are figures to prove just how out there indian women are in the dating gamepeople are dying to date someone i dont think dating is uncommon at all in delhi at least people are dying to date someone as if staying single is a crime ive used these apps myself so i know that almost everyone i know is on them tanvi a marketing professional from east delhi tells us nisha an airhostess says saying indian women dont date as theyre conservative is a generalisation i decline a coffee invitation only if the person is being creepy that doesnt make me conservative ritika a du student adds if iccr knew how many dates from these apps rejected me because i was too straightforward and bold they might want to change their opinion on indian women richa who works with an ngo says i think iccr telling foreign visitors that indian women will decline dates is a disaster for all indian women i mean we actually look forward to foreigners asking us out the number of european or australian guys ive met through dating apps proves that please dont take that away from usupto 140 increase in users 2016 alone dating apps apps say that the growth of their user base shows that dating isnt just common people are open to adopting new platforms for it sumesh menon ceo cofounder of woo says in the last few years india has adopted lifestyles very similar to those in global mega cities we have seen a meteoric rise in the number of female users woo says it has a user base of 25 lakh in india with 30 of it being women they have seen a 50 growth in users in ncr in the last three months alone its the