This is my last post on VW till I return from my US trip in July .
We are approaching tax season in India. For a number of years in the US I have used the Quicken family of products including Turbo Tax. There are other interesting personal finance sites like Bank Rate, Lending Tree, Value Line, Motley Fool etc. to name a few. I am interested in getting involved in a play along the following lines in India.
What is the play?
A destination site to help individuals invest in various asset classes in India. Individuals could be resident in India or overseas.
Can critical mass be achieved?
Yes it should be possible to get over a million users.
Can critical mass be monetized?
Yes getting an average ARPU of Rs 1000 ($25) per year should not be hard.
Lots of people have tried and not got much traction. Why will this play succeed?
Good question which I would like anyone who sends me a pitch to answer. I obviously believe that the play will succeed which is why I am interested.
Can a startup do this? Will it get killed by deep pockets of existing media / financial services players?
Good question which I would like anyone who sends me a pitch to answer. I obviously believe that the play will succeed which is why I am interested.
The Bottom Line
I am looking for entrepreneurs who are passionate and capable of executing this play. If you think you have what it takes I will be delighted to interact with you.
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Hi Yogesh
RupeeX seems a decent effort. It reminds me of Microsoft Money 2007 to an extent.
As a consumer, I would be more comfortable with an offline product which resides on my desktop rather than an online one for one reason. Confidentiality of information. How does one entrust their personal financial information with you? This is one question all companies in this space will have to deal with.
I recently heard the MD of a healthcare company exaggerating about how his company has a large database of customers and how his company can use this database to do a marketing campaign for any company at the click of a button. I immediately took my business elsewhere. My healthcare information is with him and he talks about using that info for a marketing campaign……Disgusting!! Even India should have the US HIPAA kind of legislation ensuring privacy about healthcare information.
Customer databases should be used only to improve customer service. Not to sell them to generate additional income. I have feeling that all telecom companies indulge in this. (I might be unfair here but just wondering how all the tele-marketers have my mobile number.)
For healthcare and investment/personal finance plays, ensuring client confidentiality and projecting that image would be absolutely necessary, else no one will share these sensitive pieces of information.
best wishes yogesh
Interesting comments here on tax returns. I’m a CA but never got interested in taxes. Been a M&A and risk consulting guy.
I dont think that online tax returns will be that huge a success in India for the following reasons:
The assessess in India can be classified into broadly 3 categories, salaried people, business people and retired people.
1) The IT return of a salaried person is pretty straigthforward. Just copy-paste his TDS Certificate in the return and it is ready. Most of the time, there is no other complication. This segment is targetted by most of the TRPs. This segment is net-savvy and hence could be the easiest to convert. However, many payroll outsourcing firms offer tax return preparation as an additional service. (I myself did this about 6 years back). This makes a lot of sense as the salary structure and the investment proofs would already be with the payroll BPO and the employers can project this as one of their HR initiatives.
2) The IT return of business person is pretty complicated and the value of a CA’s wisdom here cannot be substituted with online fill-it-yourself forms. Besides, a CA would provide additional services like VAT return filing, assistance in Export-import matters, accounting advice, assistance in screening right candidate for Finance and account jobs, represenation before authorities etc. Tax return is just one of the other services given by the CA. Often, a separate fee is not charged for tax returns.
3) The pensioners would primarily have property income and interest/dividend income. This segment may currently not be net-savvy and would prefer to deal with a real-person rather than a virtual person. Also, this segment needs a lot of reassurance that their money is being safeguarded, which only a real-person can give.
Finally, taxes evoke a sense of mystery and fear in most of the people, educated or otherwise. For this reason, many prefer to speak to someone to seek guidance and reassurance. I myself entrust my tax-returns to my friend who is practising as I cannot keep track of changes in the fine-print of the tax law as my specialisation is M&A and not taxes… and I dont have the time to followup on my refunds and appear before the authorities. My friend diligently follows up and gets me my refund. I’m happy to pay for this service.
On the investment portal front, atleast 15-20 portals are in existence in India since the last 8-9 years. The investment portal is mostly integrated with an online brokerage portal. Become a member of an online brokerage house and you will get access to their research as well as tools like emi calculator, portfolio manager, tax calculator, company info including shareprice history etc. I’m not sure why would somebody pay an additional USD 25.
I keep getting spammed with mails from so-called “experts” sending me daily morning “technical trading tips”. I distrust them right from the beginning and hit the delete button instantaneously. To succeed in the financial advisory profession, you need to first bring in credibility/trust rather than just convenience and portals from reputed brokerages bring them instantaneously.
Thank you for your patience in reading this rather long post.
Ideas,
Anonymity offered by technology (allowing cynical comments under made-up usernames) is too convenient, isn’t it ? Often it’s dangerous to prejudge someone. Allow yourself some more life, experience and hours in the trenches, it’ll sober you down, sanitize you of anger, frustration and cynicism.
Learn to ignore if you don’t like something. If you find something so mediocre that deserves to be howled down, do it sportingly by choosing the best of expressions that are hilarious (even the author should relish the humor). I agree it’s a difficult art, but can be developed by reading some smart blogposts / comments. Certain posts by Guy Kawasaki / Vinnie Mirchandani come to my mind – for the contemporary spunk and ripping style more than content…the kind that stings, but does not hurt 🙂
Good to know you liked my posts. Thanks.
I checked out valueresearchonline.com and found it easy to create a portfolio of my stock and mutual fund holdings. The information on mutual funds is very good.
Personalfn and equitymaster also look interesting.
Often the advantage a startup has that it can learn from pioneers and improve. “Second mover advantage”
Hi,
Yogesh, ruppex.com looks like a very decent attempt. I still have to explore more .