Why shell big bucks when companies are offering subscription-based software to be GST compliant economically?
While tech giants like SAP, Oracle, Tally and Microsoft provide software to ensure a smooth GST transition, smaller players are offering a completely different route that will appeal to lighter pockets.
Several smaller companies are offering a subscription-based model as a more cost-effective option for small and medium sized companies. The software price ranges from INR 500 a month to INR 5000 per month. This low cost makes the subcription model an attractive option for SMEs. A subscription model also ensures easy scalability and upgradations in the future.
Here’s a dekko at five small companies playing a big role in ensuring your business is GST compliant.
Name: ClearTax
Founders: Ankit Solanki, Raja Ram Gupta, Archit Gupta, Srivatsan Chari
Location: Bengaluru
Why ClearTax: A popular portal for income tax e-filing, ClearTax has expanded its offerings with Bill Book, a GST software launched in June. Bill Book works both online and offline. Companies such as Amazon, Flipkart and fashion portal Voonik have tied up with ClearTax to avail the service. The company’s investors include SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Founders Fund Angel and WhatsApp business head Neeraj Arora.
Name: GSTSTAR
Founders: Shailesh Agarawal, Balaji G S Rao
Location: Bengaluru
Why GSTSTAR: Founded by Infosys veterans, GSTSTAR offer solutions for both small and big enterprises. The minimum cost of the standard on cloud version of the software is INR 500 per month. The solution is also available as a full scale enterprise version. The company raised seed funding of USD 1 million from industry leaders T V Mohandas Pai and V Balakrishnan.
Name: LegalRaasta
Founders: Himanshu Jain, Pulkit Jain
Location: Delhi
Why LegalRaasta: LegalRaasta is a technology platform that offers legal and business consultancy services. The company raised INR 32 crore in series A funding from Impanix Capital in May to build GST compliance software. It offers both a standalone GST software and an API interface to connect enterprise resource planning (ERP) software such as SAP, Oracle and Tally with GST systems. It also offers an app-based GST filing option.
Name: Moglix
Founder: Rahul Garg
Location: Noida
Why Moglix: Moglix is a B2B e-commerce marketplace that has launched an affordable SaaS based tool called Green GST for manufacturing units across the country. Moglix is also working on initiatives to digitize supply chain across manufacturing units.
Name: Taxmann
Director: Amit Bhargava
Location: Delhi
Why Taxmann: Since 1960, publication house Taxmann has been publishing books on tax, direct tax, indirect tax and company laws. It has launched a GST software called One Solution. The software auto-calculates GSTR from purchase and sales invoices and also reconciles all sales and purchase invoices in one click.
