Aarav’s Hinge profile is a masterclass in plausible deniability.Nowhere does the 29-year-old Bengaluru-based IT professional mention that he’s a Tamil Brahmin. There’s no reference to whether he’s an Iyer or an Iyengar, no mention of horoscopes, and certainly no hint that his mother has already begun mentally auditioning potential daughters-in-law. Instead, he leaves behind the sort of clues only the right people are meant to notice: a photograph from Chennai’s Margazhi music season, another with a steel tumbler of filter coffee, and a prompt passionately insisting that Mylapore has the city’s best sambar.His parents have accepted that he will probably meet someone on his own. They would prefer that someone belonged to the same community. He doesn’t entirely disagree. “Shared traditions matter,” he says. “I just don’t want to discuss horoscopes before I’ve figured out whether I even enjoy spending time with someone.”And that, strangely enough, feels like India’s dating problem. Or perhaps, more accurately, its missing middle.We have become extraordinarily good at helping people marry within their communities. For over two decades, we have built an entire digital ecosystem around it. In fact, Matrimony.com alone operates more than 325 community-specific sites, spanning religions, castes, linguistic groups and professions.What we never really figured out was the bit that comes before it. Dating.Around the blockWhich is curious because religion still exerts an astonishing influence over whom Indians marry. Pew Research Center, which conducts public opinion surveys in countries outside the US, found that 99% of Hindus, 98% of Muslims, 97% of Sikhs and 95% of Christians marry within their own faith, which makes the absence of faith-based dating apps all the more intriguing.India has no shortage of faith-based matrimonial websites. But when it comes to faith-based dating, the cupboard has been surprisingly bare. That’s what makes Muzz — one of the first global, faith-first dating apps to officially expand into India — so interesting.The London-born platform, which officially expanded its India operations this year, occupies the space between Tinder and Shaadi.com. It isn’t interested in casual swiping, but neither does it expect your parents to join the conversation before you’ve decided whether you’d like to split dessert. Globally, it says it has over 17 million users across 190 countries and has facilitated more than 800,000 marriages.