Extra-marital affairs in India’s corporate world are no longer whispered secrets. From office romances turning into second marriages to violent crimes sparked by hidden liaisons, the evidence is hard to ignore. Recent surveys show more than half of Indian employees have either had, or are open to, an office affair. The question is why.
Background: From scandal to statistics
In 2020, a Gurugram software engineer left his pregnant wife in Indore during the lockdown and later married a colleague. In Mumbai, a man pretended to be dying of COVID before running away with his office partner. These are not isolated cases.
A 2024 Economic Times report found that 34% of Indian employees had engaged in an office affair. Gleeden, a dating app for married people, reported a 270% surge in Indian users by the end of that year. By mid-2025, Ashley Madison data showed smaller cities like Kanchipuram topping the national rankings for extra-marital activity—outpacing even Mumbai and Delhi.
The triggers
Unconventional work culture: IT and BPO jobs with night shifts cut employees off from families and friends. Surveys show 89% of Mumbai employees and 74% in Bengaluru attended “wild parties” linked to casual hookups.
Power and promotions: Over half of office affairs involve bosses and subordinates. A Synovate study across 500 firms found 44% agreed that office affairs speed up career growth, and 30% said they led to faster promotions.
Overwork and neglect: Seventy per cent of Indian employees report feeling overworked. One in four in IT logs 70-hour weeks. Commutes eat up more time. Couples barely talk.
Arranged marriage mismatches: Four in ten Indian brides have no say in their match, and two-thirds meet their husbands for the first time at the wedding. This lack of shared goals pushes some toward colleagues who “understand their world.”
Digital access: Apps like Gleeden and Ashley Madison normalize infidelity. A 2025 Gleeden study found 58% of Indians said affairs brought emotional fulfilment and 41% were open to open marriages.
Why it matters
Affairs devastate trust and family life. Children caught in broken marriages face stress, depression, and lifelong trauma. At a corporate level, scandals cost reputations and money. Globally, companies have lost billions when executives were exposed for misconduct. The human and financial stakes are enormous.
The solutions being tested
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Chapman’s Five Love Languages: Words of affirmation, quality time, small gifts, acts of service, and physical touch have been shown to restore intimacy.
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No-phone zones: Marriage coach Peter McFadden suggests declaring bedrooms phone-free so couples can connect at day’s end.
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Couples therapy: Still stigmatized in India but effective in repairing communication and trust.
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Shared goals: Long-term studies show marriages thrive when partners build dreams together, not when they run parallel lives.
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Family-friendly workplaces: Research links flexible policies and reduced overwork to stronger relationships and lower infidelity risks.
Closing thought
India’s workplace affairs are not just private scandals. They mirror the pressures of an economy where jobs feel insecure, marriages are arranged in haste, and employees spend more time with colleagues than with spouses. The rise of corporate affairs forces a harder question: do we want to normalize betrayal, or invest in building relationships resilient enough to survive the stress of modern work and life?
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