The EPC recently got in touch with Ayush Yembarwar and his team members Nikhil Khandelwal and Aditya Patil for an interview on DaanCorona.tech—their initiative aimed at helping local businesses during these tough times. 

DaanCorona’s concept is simple: customers can buy pre-paid vouchers from vendors online. The money then goes directly to the beneficiary. Aside from the tax levied by the payment gateway, all money sent to DaanCorona is sent to the vendor. Ayush stated that the vouchers work like an e-wallet: they can be redeemed wholly or partially at the vendor in the future. This helps the business by providing immediate liquidity relief while rewarding customers for their help. This model works better than donations in two ways—a wider customer base can donate in smaller amounts to accumulate enough capital for the vendor and the vendor is no longer limited to customers they can personally contact. Daancorona aims to target MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises), especially those who do not have an online presence yet.

Ayush said the idea came to him when he learned that many Pilani-based businesses like redi owners and rickshaw drivers had reached out to some of their frequent customers to borrow capital, to be able to ride out the pandemic induced economic slump. These businesses fundamentally depend on the BITSian community for their livelihood, a source of revenue that has vanished in these times. 

DaanCorona has a website for its customers and an app for business owners, that supports Hindi and English. The website requires customers to log in, in order to keep track of the vouchers they purchase. The team does not plan on making an app for customers, which they feel would only make donating more cumbersome, requiring customers to overcome the inertia of downloading and registering on an app.

The DaanCorona project took around a month to come to fruition. It was launched on the 8th of May and was first publicised on “BITSians For Each Other”, a Facebook group. The team then started marketing via WhatsApp and sold vouchers worth over ₹10,000 in their first week of operation. 

The DaanCorona team includes app developers, web developers, video editors, and product managers. When asked about the process of getting vendors on board, Ayush replied that for Pilani businesses, the team gathered the contact details of various business owners from their friends and acquaintances. He felt that business owners were very receptive to the voucher concept. The team has plans to roll the platform out to other cities like Mumbai and Pune, but they would first like to fix any chinks in the platform by utilising feedback from Pilani businesses.

The team clarified that this is a non-profit initiative. All proceeds from a voucher’s purchase apart from the 2% RazorPay transaction fee are transferred to the end affiliate. Customers have the freedom to choose from any mode of payment they desire, be it e-Wallets, UPI, or bank cards. When asked about any issues customers might have regarding the validity of their vouchers, the team “limits its liability in this regard”, replying that the merchants have to agree to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) mid-registration, which makes them liable for not honouring vouchers. Businesses are given the flexibility of setting a maximum credit limit to prevent the lack of new cash flow after the lockdown ends. Also, customers can verify the business owner’s information, which is provided on the website. 

The team is in the process of contacting the Institute at the time of writing this article, aiming to discuss the promotion of DaanCorona using BITSmail and leveraging the Institute’s influence for help with promotion.

Lastly, the team wishes to remind BITSians of the sentimental values and memories Pilani businesses hold in their hearts, and urges them to step up and help these vendors through uncertain times. Most students will be availing these businesses’ facilities after returning to campus irrespective of this initiative, it just ensures they are provided the monetary support they need to get through this pandemic.  

The website for the venture is DaanCorona.tech. The team also requests users to contact them directly in case there is a business they want introduced to the platform.

The team:

Web Developers: Nikhil K, Nikhil V, Sankha, Srivatsa
App Developers: Ayush J, Anubhav, Gauransh, Naman
Video Editors: Akshaj, Armaan, Sambhav
Non-Tech: Ayush Y, Aditya, Tapan

For queries, contact:

+91-9929849098 (Nikhil Khandelwal)

+91-7690023451 (Ayush Yembarwar)