Even as the world shrinks into your handheld device, the mobile is becoming increasingly for most people the enviable all-purpose device. Here is yet another mobile application, from the Chennai-based Flexscient Technologies: PaisaGate — to keep track of your daily spending through text messages.
PaisaGate is a mobile utility service that helps users keep their expenses within their monthly spending budgets, explains Ranga Bhakthavatsalam, founder and managing director of Flexscient. “The service lets users set budgets and track expenses using SMS — an interface that is accessible from any mobile phone. Users get daily updates on expenses and a consolidated expense report at the end of the month,” he says.
The PaisaGate expense tracking service has been designed with the large mobile subscriber base in India that still uses ‘basic' mobile phones, he adds.
Ideally, any mobile phone that supports Java can use the service. The first task is to download an application on to the phone from the website: >www.flexscient.com . If your phone has no GPRS, it can be blue-toothed, or transferred via cable on to the phone from a desktop or laptop.
For instance, a user types in petrol 80, indicating the amount spent on petrol during the day. The expense inputs sent by the users are automatically categorised by the software into different expense heads and a consolidated report is sent to the users every night at the end of the month.
Users will incur standard SMS charges, as per their mobile tariff plan, when sending SMS to the service. In addition, the utility service is offered in three different subscription packages — Personal, Group and Professional. The Group and Professional packages enable a group of members (e.g. a team, household, small business) to track their expenses in a centralised account, making it much easier to budget and analyse user-wise expenses under various categories. The subscription packages start at Rs.149 for 6-months for the personal account.
When the service was launched in January this year, it was an expense tracking tool. After user feedback came in, it was decided to provide a higher order budgeting provision — users can now fix their monthly budget via SMS and track how much they are spending on a daily basis. Industry standards for securing the information are in place, Mr. Bhakthavatsalam says, adding that all data is encrypted, protected and automated, with no human interface.
Currently it has more than 4,300 users. The service is offered initially with a 30-day free trial account. Users can register themselves for the service by sending SMS ‘PAISA' to 09600024000 or by visiting the website.
