Digital payments may have made spending faster, but they have also made it easier to lose track of where the money goes. A Chennai entrepreneur hopes to address that blind spot with ₹wise, an app that turns scattered digital transactions into a consolidated picture of spending.

Once downloaded, the app scans standard bank transaction alerts received through SMS and tracks outflows such as digital purchases and payments. It extracts details including the amount, merchant and account and adds them to a consolidated ledger.

The idea is particularly relevant for consumers and small merchants who use multiple UPI applications or QR codes linked to different bank accounts. Since ₹wise works from the final bank alerts, it can aggregate transactions irrespective of which payment app or QR code was used.

After about 30 days, users can see patterns that may otherwise remain hidden — from small, frequent expenses such as ₹15 teas and snacks to fixed outgoings, peak spending days and overall net cash flow across accounts.

Its dashboard presents the information through daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly views. Rather than setting budgets or restricting purchases, the app positions itself as an awareness tool.

The app says the processing happens locally on the user’s device and that transaction data does not leave the phone.

“We built ₹wise because digital payment apps have made spending completely frictionless — money leaves your account with a quick scan, but awareness of where it actually went disappears just as fast,” says founder S Sathyanarayanan.

He says the objective is not to make users “suffer through rigid budgets”, but to provide an honest picture of their spending habits. “When you see the real pattern, behaviour changes naturally. Don’t just pay, be aware,” he says.

Whether that awareness translates into savings, however, depends on the user. “₹wise cannot stop impulse purchases and doesn’t guarantee anyone will save a single rupee. It doesn’t judge, control or restrict behaviour,” Sathyanarayanan says. If users want to save, he adds, they have to change their habits themselves. The app, he says, simply provides “the mirror” to show what needs fixing.

Early users appear to find that mirror useful. Sujith, a young professional using the app during its free period, says it has made him more conscious of his spending. Entrepreneur Prabhavathi, another user, says she finds the concept interesting and plans to try it.

The app is free for three days and subsequently costs ₹99 a year.

Sathyanarayanan, an MSME owner from Chennai with a background in fresh-fruit import, export and supply-chain logistics, says the discipline of managing high-volume trade inspired the app. The experience, he says, taught him that control begins with clear and immediate visibility into numbers.

₹wise is available on the Google Play Store:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rupewise.app