Access to Short-term Credit Has Direct Impact On Business Efficiency: Khatabook's Ravish Naresh
The company is making money and expecting to become profitable in the next few years.
Khatabook has a simple goal. Through its digital solutions, it wants to improve efficiency and profitability of MSMEs. It is using its tech platforms to address problems relating to financial management of businesses and credit access.
In January 2019, the company began digitizing the bahi Khatas. This is a red accounting book that each business owner in India uses to keep track of their daily Jama (credits) and Udhar (debits). The startup claims that automating bahi-khatas has resulted to real-time financial visibility, efficient cashflows and fast pending payments collections for MSMEs.
"Accessibility to short-term loans is another area which has a direct effect on the efficiency of business. We have therefore introduced MSME lending to our App. We are currently offering loans of up to INR 250,000 with a tenure of 12 months for users who use the Khatabook App to manage their cash flow, purchase inventories, etc.
Khatabook offers accounting software and financial service through two products: BizAnalyst, and Khatabook. Khatabook, a mobile accounting solution for retailers, and BizAnalyst, an accounting software aimed at distributors and traders.
We place a high priority on hiring software engineers that can go beyond the call of duty to fully understand our customers' needs and build products that are flawless.
The company expects to reach profitability in 18-24 months. The basic bookkeeping tools are free to use, but our revenue comes from scalability of FinServe/Digital Lending services and increasing our subscriber base. The product strategy allows us to increase our monetization while keeping users engaged," says he. The company's current focus is on scaling up digital loans with a goal of reaching an AUM greater than INR 500 crore in the next year.
The co-founder would like to share two important lessons with budding entrepreneurs. Hire people with a resilient attitude and who are agile. Build an organization whose culture reflects agility and resilience as core values. You will have times of hyper-growth, and times of slowdown. "In both scenarios, adopting and moving forward is essential," says he.
FACTSHEET
Number of users: 10 million MAUs and 150k+ paying users for Biz Analyst