Infidelity in India is no longer taboo, a forbidden phenomenon that is brushed under the carpet. Acoording to a recent infidelity survey by Gleeden (a global extramarital dating app for women), there has been a 16 percent decline in physical infidelity in the country since 2023.
What’s more, 48 percent of respondents in 2025 reported cheating on their partner compared to 57 percent in 2020. The downward trend represents not just a behavioural shift but also an ideological shift. Indians are not necessarily being more faithful, they are simply more willing to deliberate about fidelity itself.
The 16 percent fall in reported infidelity does not necessarily mean that people are not exploring relationships outside their regular set-up. It simply means they are doing so more honestly. Instead of it being clandestine, it is becoming consensual. The language is shifting from “cheating” to “choice,” and from “betrayal” to “boundaries”. As more couples embrace sexual and emotional honesty, they are beginning to steer clear of the need to deceive.
For women, emotional connection, chatty flirting, and simply fantasising about someone else could be considered cheating, and this growth in self-awareness among women is creating demand for more emotions-based honest relationships – relationships that depend on no silent agreements under guilt.
The statistics are a fascinating counterpoint. Although 94 percent of Indians claim to be happy in their relationships and 84 percent claim to be satisfied in their sex lives, only 25 percent feel fulfilled in reality. The rest admit to feeling the lack of emotional connection, thrill, or communication. This disconnect has produced a cultural moment where increasing numbers of people are exploring alternative ways to fix their relationships instead of terminating them.
An astonishing 60 percent of married people would choose the intramarital affair over a divorce in a case of unhappiness in the marriage. Even more radically, 47 percent thought infidelity could prove to yeast the passion of a monotonous union.
Forgiveness is also possible – 62 percent said they would seriously consider forgiving a cheating spouse in a one-time mistake, especially if the spouse showed honest remorse in the way they continued. The survey clearly shows an evolution from moral absolutism towards emotional realism.
