190 karma · joined October 20, 2016
We help you make cashless spends at over 55 million+ merchants across India.
learn more: https://www.chequpi.com
The range of arguments which may be called "conspiracy theories" is far and wide. And the truth about many theories only becomes clear after a lot of time.
What the author might have discovered instead is the tendency of lonely people to seek new belief systems starkly in contrast to the group they feel alienated from.
Seems like a funny coincidence
Or maybe UPI becomes like the new https.
Each country implementing its own versions
Your account balance and history will remain consistent and untouched.
These are the steps you'll have to follow if you plan to launch a new UPI app:
First, you'll finalize the business plan + team.
Second, you'll have to find early investors and backers
Third, you'll have to find a banking partner to work with
Fourth, you'll have to develop the product
Fifth, you'll undergo certifications and audits by RBI approved third parties
Sixth, you're app will be tested by officials at the NPCI
Seventh, Now you go live
Only after step 7, do you get to know if customers will buy your product.
Or if the entire effort goes to waste.
Does this link not work for you? https://link-to.app/cheq
Can you try searching for Cheq in your app store/playstore and see if the install works from there?
What's the error
Adding funds via credit/debit card incurs an hefty merchant commission.
And hence, no forex company can't sustainably provide 0 FX rates for too long unless they're only taking funds via bank transfer.
A flat $30-$50 fee will easily cover for most of these costs though.
We can cover the 3.5% markup plus provide doorstep verification service to customers
Thanks for the suggestion. We'll definitely try a variant of this soon
In principle, there shouldn't be a concern allowing people to access their own money from anywhere in the world.
However the product category itself is very new right now.
We'll have to demonstrate strong customer need before approvals might be granted.
We'll have to verify the new documents and enable the wallet again.
And plan to keep optimising these costs with time and volumes.
Also, loading Cheq with INR is not allowed for foreign tourists currently.
You can topup with international currency only
But cross border payments are expensive to facilitate. And this is the best rate we've been able to figure out currently.
Btw, In the US, Most ATMs are charging 3-5$ extra each time I withdraw cash. Plus the currency conversion charges.
Our prices are definitely better.
https://transcorpint.com/find-us
Multiple branches. We can also arrange for at home verification.
> The bullet points suggest that there is no sensible way for a foreigner to pay in India so I just won't go to India.
Hahha, Think of Cheq UPI as a convenience for the foreigner while visiting India.
I am in SF currently and pay 3-5$ extra each time when I withdraw cash from ATMs.
Would've loved to use an app like Cheq here itself. But I don't think there's a parallel to what we're building in the US
But UPI will feel more convenient. And it works everywhere.
Our download redirects to the android playstore by default on desktop. But if you open it on the iphone, it will take you to the app store.
Happy to chat.
We plan to scale with doorstep verification services in the meantime.
Doing the account opening process online would be best but isn't allowed under existing regulations.
Longer term solution however, will be doorstep verification facilitated by the Transcorp team / in-house agents.
> charge a lot more and make it a lot more convenient.
We're trying to introduce doorstep verification services. And establishing good unit economics is definitely our current biggest problem.
50$ will make our investors very happy but then customers might complain.
And thanks for all the suggestions. We'll improve the website asap.
You'll be able to purchase INR using your international card at no extra cost apart from the 10$ basically.
Standard add money rate will be 3.5% . Whenever we start applying the same.
This is less than half the fees charged by airport money changers.
Its in the "plan" and we'll introduce it once the volumes go up enough to require compensations. Maybe in 2-3 months or longer.
Hence, the summary says 10$ only.
Transcorp has been operating from these locations since the last 20 years or so. Cheq is just hopping aboard.
We can also arrange for home/hotel verification to tourists. An agent will travel to your location and finish the verification.
However, this facility is only available in a limited number of cities across India and we're already backlogged with requests.
We'll work on improving ease of onboarding in the coming months for sure.
Thank you very much for the suggestion!
> It would be best to have a native speaker, such as an American, to review and re-write.
Great idea.
We'll definitely try to work with someone in this capacity.
We're already incorporating multiple language support and language translations.
Unfortunately, existing regulations in India mandate a one-time physical verification before we can unlock you for a full-fledged prepaid account without applying artificial limits.
Our team is definitely looking into way to make this entire process online and as hassle-free as possible. And we're looking for ways to unblock activation directly at airports.
Will keep you posted as things develop.
> Also, why restrict the app to work only in India?
I am unsure but somewhere in the RBI regulations it says prepaid wallets are only supposed to work while customers are in India. At least that's what we've been informed by the lawyers. Hence transactions are currently disallowed from outside.
But if enough folks adopt Cheq, I am confident we can ask the government for relaxations. Technically, its super easy for us.
You cannot use them to make everyday purchases. And there's no guarantee by when the recipient will receive money.
Companies like Wise power Remittances i.e. you can send money to a person in India from USA using their facilities.
However, this cannot be used to make purchases from merchants. Nor are you guaranteed your money will be delivered within 2 minutes in case of cross-border remittance.
Because Cheq actually opens a new Indian wallet, we must do the passport verification. Regulations are pretty specific in this regard currently.
Rest assured though, when you try to open your Cheq wallet today, your details will only ever be seen by White collared staff on direct Payroll of Transcorp. The agent only takes a photo of your passport for our records (no paper copies of your details are stored).
We'll keep trying to improve the onboarding experience in the coming years for sure.
Will get this fixed. Also improve the positioning of it.
The idea behind getting sponsors was to keep the customer charges as low as possible.
We're attracing a very premium customer base and I am confident merchants would like to place themselves before our audience.
> Who is transcorp and how are you related to them? Western people are very unlikely to have heard of them (I had to Google), and are you part of them, powered by them, etc? It's confusing having two brands like that at the top of your page.
Transcorp is our banking/licensing partner. We're currently using their services in India to manage customer funds and power our UPI connection.
I understand your feedback though. We'll work on presenting this better.
> The two "British" video testimonials don't have British accents. Are you sure they are actually British?
Hahah, Nice catch. I just rechecked. Andrew is British. Olivia is American. Leo is Russian. We'll update this.
> Btw, I think partnerships would be a good way to market yourself. There are a lot of prepaid travel cards in the west and I can imagine they'd be happy to look at promoting you.
That's a great idea. We'll definitely explore this route for growth.
Simply purchase the product, finish your setup and speak with your assigned account representative.
They'll get you activated