Monday, March 2, 2020

Udhaar Khata Recipe

I was looking at the dozens of other Udhaar khata app that are available on Playstore
and while some are original approaches ( the pathfinders) and some are shamelessly copied (not that i am saint) and some look more or less same (rightly so as they are solving the same piece of problem) and some have blindly served half cooked food to fish some hungry seekers. But this is not the point.

The point being what is the problem actually. Is the problem related to just bookkeeping of Udhaar khata or there is a bigger problem  which is hidden and not that obvious and doesn't meet the eye in first glance.

As i know or have seen people that they are merrily writing away all the Udhaar in a notebook in their own font and size and never heard anyone complaining about it. So what is this rush about Udhaar khata apps??

Lets put the problem under the microscope. It kind of reveals that the actual problem most likely is to remind people to pay up. The problem is not the Udhaar given or the intent of people by and large but the problem is to remind people that this small money which they owe to me. This small money is important to me and may not be that critical for them (as its just some small amount especially in the context of this mass adoption which is daily life purchases and not a car or a wedding suit purchase).

Reminding people anyway is not considered good and people hesitate and sometimes get offended too. It doesn't come very obvious that this small money from 10 different customers is the actual working capital of the shopkeeper. And if all or most of them delays or forgets then what will this poor guy do.

Another aspect of the same problem is that this shopkeeper also takes credit from his suppliers and has a kind of tacit credit cycle between him and his supplier.

So supplier - shopkeeper transaction is in a way analogous to shopkeeper - customer transaction.
But both as an entity take credit and give credit. Likewise, take payment and give payment.

So if a shopkeeper needs a reminder system to track his udhaar given then why not track the payments received also which otherwise may lead to other situations of dispute. And while i am writing my Udhaar and Payments in the mobile app then how about maintaining my expenses as well.

One thing leads to other and it appears to gather mass and sort of snowball into an app based substantial Accounting + Analytics + Reminder + CRM + communication tool riding on whatsapp/sms/deeplinking with payment providers etc for shopkeepers, distributors, service providers and to individuals for that matter. But But who is paying for all this app based service!! Leaving it for some other day as i have sit under some tree in some complex yogic mudra to understand the economics of it 😀

I hope i have not given away anyone's secret sauce here. If so, let be it. We are on air anyway like others !!


If you get a chance, download our android app 

(apologies to the apple users, we are coming soon on AppStore)
Its a Udhaar Bahi Khata, Hisaab Kitaab, Expense ledger, Money manager app. Buku is your simplified digital account book to maintain khata and expenses. It is 100% Private and Secure for all types of business ( like retailers/shop keepers /distributors/ stockist/ whole-sellers/ traders/ service providers etc.) as well as personal use.

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