[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.

[sudshekhar]

> 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.

[jrumbut]

Hey best of luck with this! I would have loved something like this on my trip to India.

To get anywhere and do anything required increasingly elaborate setups and even personal password sharing between myself and new inlaws that hardly knew me.

A lot of time and money was wasted and somehow in the process I was banned from Uber for several months.

I have the same advice for you I would give to basically every other business that caters to tourists in India: charge a lot more and make it a lot more convenient. If you need in-person verification and can't get an airport kiosk, give me an option to pay $50 and have someone come to my hotel or have someone pick me up and bring me to Cheq. It's so difficult to get around before you get some kind of digital payment setup.

[Uselessly1691]

I'm using BHIM app and Phonepe outside india but i have to insert indian simcard in the phone to do this transactions.

[dheera]

> However, in-person-branch-verification is a big non-starter for me. It needs to be more convenient than visiting a branch.

This is an issue with using AliPay and WeChat Pay in China as well. If you want to access the full spectrum of services including reserving train tickets, flights, and hotels with online payments, you need to get a local SIM card and mobile phone number, and then with that plugged in and working, visit a bank branch and set up a bank account in-person. In theory you can do both of these things in the span of an hour if you go first thing in the morning, but not every bank employee knows how to open an account with a passport and sometimes you'll have to visit 2 or 3 branches until you encounter someone know knows how to do it in their system.

Mobile payments are convenient once set up but they have made the world more fragmented with every superpower country implementing its own system.

[mortureb]

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.

[tyingq]

Finding a way to get a presence in the major airports would probably make it reasonable. Partnership with someone already there, like a currency exchange booth? Then, at some point, maybe there's enough volume to gain leverage with the bureaucrats to go all online.

[sudshekhar]

We did try pushing for an online account opening process. However, it's not allowed under existing India regulations.

We plan to scale with doorstep verification services in the meantime.