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Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

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Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#31

Post by Brajeshwar »

Excellent, and I love the idea. We (a community of 400+ founders in a small Bangalore community) were even discussing you guys a few days back.

I have given this feedback earlier, too, but the copy sounds Ind-lish at most places. Your customers are going to be primarily non-Indian. It would be best to have a native speaker, such as an American, to review and re-write. I’m an Indian and have worked primarily with overseas clients since the early 00s. I have learned a lot about what we speak/write sounds normal, but they sound either funny at best or rude at worst.

Not in a derogatory way, and I’m guilty of being one myself, too. However, this is what I equate to, “Quite a tad of our Indian English is like driving a car with the handbrake half-engaged or sawing a hardwood with an unsharpened tool.”

Best of luck. This tool needs to exit.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#32

Post by fakedang »

For those not in the know, I believe it's possible for NRIs with an Indian Bank account (NRE/NRO) to use UPI.

https://m.economictimes.com/wealth/save/upi-for-nris-with-in...

The list of countries are Canada, Singapore, UK, USA, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#33

Post by redindian75 »

I struggled a lot with this exact problem during my trip to India last year, so I am your perfect NRI customer. I don't have an Indian phone number, so GPay and PayTM were out of reach. So I had to use my parents' phone everywhere. This app is great for my next visit.

However, in-person-branch-verification is a big non-starter for me. It needs to be more convenient than visiting a branch. If I have to visit a branch, I might as well open an NRE account; there's an ICICI on every street. I checked your list and I don't see any Tier 2 cities. There's nothing all over Tamil Nadu and Kerala except Chennai.

So, in the absence of a 24/7 kiosk or manned counter in every major international airport (3-4 in each state), you need to have an option for pre-verification online/FaceTime/webcam or via document upload. Otherwise, the inconvenience of a branch visit negates any usefulness.

Also, why restrict the app to work only in India? I should be able to load money and withdraw money wherever. Just disable the payment part.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#34

Post by mortureb »

redindian75 wrote: post #33

I struggled a lot with this exact problem during my trip to India last year, so I am your perfect NRI customer. I don't have an Indian phone number, so GPay and PayTM were out of reach. So I had to use my parents' phone everywhere. This app is great for my next visit. However, in-person-branch-verification is a big non-starter for me. It needs to be more convenient than visiting a branch. If I have to visit a branch,…

Anything with in person anything is an immediate no go. Come on guys, find a way around this. There absolutely has to be a way to do this over the internet.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#35

Post by sudshekhar »

redindian75 wrote: post #33

I struggled a lot with this exact problem during my trip to India last year, so I am your perfect NRI customer. I don't have an Indian phone number, so GPay and PayTM were out of reach. So I had to use my parents' phone everywhere. This app is great for my next visit. However, in-person-branch-verification is a big non-starter for me. It needs to be more convenient than visiting a branch. If I have to visit a branch,…

> Otherwise, the inconvenience of a branch visit negates any usefulness.

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.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#36

Post by sirius87 »

sudshekhar wrote: post #9
rlpb wrote: post #5

This looks interesting, but there are some questions I still have after reading your website. Perhaps you could clarify, please? Your website says: > Verify yourself at any one of our partner branches across India How do I find out if there's a branch nearby without downloading your app and committing to an unknown amount of effort? I couldn't find a list of your branches anywhere, but it looks like it would be a sho…

Hey, answering the questions below 1) https://transcorpint.com/find-us => You can verify yourself at any of these centers across India. We'll improve the site to directly point customers to appropriate verification centers (thanks for pointing this out) 2) OCI holders are accepted as well. Only your passport and OCI card are required 3) Add funds facility is instantenous. And is available in the app once you've finis…

I was about to suggest this app to a friend travelling to India but quickly backed out after checking the location of the nearest centers.

It's a connundrum whether these centers are more useful at/near airports or city centers. I would think airports, and therefore someone travelling to Mysore wouldn't need to go to your Bangalore center, but I may be wrong.

If you don't mind sharing, what's the thought that went into these locations?

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#37

Post by sudshekhar »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #31

Excellent, and I love the idea. We (a community of 400+ founders in a small Bangalore community) were even discussing you guys a few days back. I have given this feedback earlier, too, but the copy sounds Ind-lish at most places. Your customers are going to be primarily non-Indian. It would be best to have a native speaker, such as an American, to review and re-write. I’m an Indian and have worked primarily with over…

> I have given this feedback earlier, too, but the copy sounds Ind-lish at most places.

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.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#38

Post by sudshekhar »

sirius87 wrote: post #36
sudshekhar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, answering the questions below 1) https://transcorpint.com/find-us => You can verify yourself at any of these centers across India. We'll improve the site to directly point customers to appropriate verification centers (thanks for pointing this out) 2) OCI holders are accepted as well. Only your passport and OCI card are required 3) Add funds facility is instantenous. And is available in the app once you've finis…

I was about to suggest this app to a friend travelling to India but quickly backed out after checking the location of the nearest centers. It's a connundrum whether these centers are more useful at/near airports or city centers. I would think airports, and therefore someone travelling to Mysore wouldn't need to go to your Bangalore center, but I may be wrong. If you don't mind sharing, what's the thought that went in…

We don't have much say in the placement of these centers.

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.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#39

Post by skwashd »

sudshekhar wrote: post #8
shivekkhurana wrote: post #3

HN is a global forum, and most people probably don't know about UPI. But this is amazing. Do you have a subscription service or do you charge a markup on forex deposits ? Also how did you build a legal structure to allow this ? Congrats on the launch. Wish you success :)

We're still playing with our pricing. 10$ joining fees and a 3.5% markup on adding funds is the current business plan. We'll observe customer usage over the next 3-6 months and figure out if fixed fee subscriptions can be cheaper. > Also how did you build a legal structure to allow this ? We've partnered with Transcorp International Limited to operate the Cheq app in India. They are an RBI approved AD2 and PPI licens…

The summary says:

> Apart from the 10$ account opening fees, there are no other costs for using the product. Funds added can be spent anywhere across India.

As mentioned above, there is a 3.5% fee for adding funds.

I looked into Cheq before my recent trip to India. After doing the math I realised it was cheaper to take out some cash at the airport for smaller transactions and tips. I had no issue using my credit card at larger stores.

Re: Show HN: Cheq UPI – India's first UPI payments app for foreigners

#40

Post by sudshekhar »

skwashd wrote: post #39
sudshekhar wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're still playing with our pricing. 10$ joining fees and a 3.5% markup on adding funds is the current business plan. We'll observe customer usage over the next 3-6 months and figure out if fixed fee subscriptions can be cheaper. > Also how did you build a legal structure to allow this ? We've partnered with Transcorp International Limited to operate the Cheq app in India. They are an RBI approved AD2 and PPI licens…

The summary says: > Apart from the 10$ account opening fees, there are no other costs for using the product. Funds added can be spent anywhere across India. As mentioned above, there is a 3.5% fee for adding funds. I looked into Cheq before my recent trip to India. After doing the math I realised it was cheaper to take out some cash at the airport for smaller transactions and tips. I had no issue using my credit card…

Currently, we're not charging the 3.5% fees to customers.

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.

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