What is Billdesk all about?
There used to be days when people had to take days off in order to go pay the utility bills like electricity or telephone bill, stand in long queues to pay bills and not be able to pay because the deadline would be over. Also, along with this comes the hassle of trying to remember the last day of payment for all the different bills that one receives. The chaos of waiting for the physical copy to reach your house, which sometimes got misplaced or lost or was given when one was out of town and then if the bills are received the added responsibility of not misplacing them and remembering to pay. And have the connection to your electricity or phone cut off because of late payment or non-payment of the bill because one did not remember to pay amidst the million other things that one has to care.
To put an end to all this hassle, a one stop solution for all your billing needs, from storing bills to automating the process of billing, and having everything on the internet instead of loose physical copies scattered all around. There is BillDesk, and solution for all billing services, a simple hassle free, bill payment platform that can be used to pay any bills from anywhere.
How Billdesk came into existence?
BillDesk was founded in 2000 IndiaIdeas.com with the realisation of the potential of the Internet. The company knew that with the advent of the internet the people won’t just be using the Internet for entertainment purposes but to solve a lot of problems and reduce hassle and bring convenience into one’s life. BillDesk is an online Payment platform that handles everything from direct payments from the bank to the bills, storage of the bills. Anyone can pay any amount to anyone from anywhere. The bill providers can also benefit from this by cutting down on their processing expenses.
The service is available 24/7, all throughout the year, which puts the fear of late payment at bay, there are regular reminder systems that remind you as the deadline is nearing. So there is no fear of forgetting the deadline. Most of all it was very easy to use and simple, and most importantly, all the transactions are secure.
About the founder:
There are three pioneers behind the establishment of Billdesk, Srnivasu MN, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy. Sninivasu MN hails from Chennai, having done his schooling in St.Michael’s Academy and then in Vidya Mandhir, went on to finish his under graduation in commerce from RKM Vivekananda college, Chennai and then joining the elite Indian Institute of Management. Followed by small stints in companies like ITC Limited, ITC Zeneca Limited, Andersan in different Mannagement and Financial roles and then finally Co-founding BillDesk
Ajay Kaushal did his schooling in Patna from St Michael’s High School Patna then moving to Delhi to study in St Columbas High School, New Delhi. He pursued his Bachelor’s in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in Electronic and Electrical Engineering finally completing his education from Indian Institute of management, Lucknow. He worked t SBI Capital Markets Limited, Arthur Anderson, CAF India and finally became the Director of Billdesk.
Karthik Gananpathy also studied in Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Followed by work experience in Arthur Anderson where the three of them seem to have met and founded BillDesk
Valuation and Investment
Billdesk has a valuation of about $2 Billion, with the latest investment being by the US-Based company Visa investing in Billdesk. It also has investments from other Investors like General Atlantic TA associates, Clearstone Venture and Temasek Holdings.
Journey so far
It was back in the early 2000 when the three pillars behind Billdesk, MN Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy were working in an American accounting firm, Arthur Anderson did they see the potential in the online space and how though the world was moving towards digitisation, the bill payment sector still fell behind. Those were the days where bill payments were a physical activity of standing in long queues and submitting the bills. That is when the three of them decided to take bill payments online to have a hassle-free transaction.
Investors, Investing and funding was not a familiar concept back in 2000 so the money for this venture was raised through government-based SIDBI Venture Capital and Bank of Baroda, once the idea started getting some recognition then more funding started coming in. The company has remained low-profile even to this day. It handles operations in the backend irrespective what kind of payment happens, be it through e-wallet, credit or debit cards but the backend is handled by Billdesk. Since the service is so well organised the clients do not have a problem with the low profile, and their clientele includes giant customers like Amazon, Ola etc.
Obstacles faced and overcome
One of the obstacles was to wade off competition as the company is under low profile and a lot of other well marketed small start ups have been erupting here and there, example PayUmoney, Paytm, Citrus and CC Avenue. But having been in industry for almost two decades has definitely added an edge to the company to wade off competition and also having a good clientele has definitely help.
A recent Obstacle faced by the company was when the Reserve Bank of India reduced the commission rates on almost all the online transaction which was a burden on the Payment Gateway company BillDesk. Yet they kept up their pace and were steadily delivering their services, thereby they were finally in the profit margin.
Expansion and future plan
Billdesk is provides its service to almost all the cities in India, it plans on bringing in automation and artificial intelligence to have further smother transactional experience for the customers are the go on to acquire bigger brands and more customers.
Impact on the society
The Payment Gateway has made every utility payment for every transaction convenient and hassle free for all the customers. And even the other e-commerce companies have an easy payment option that is secure and convenient.
