How It Works
The full playbook — and answers to 41 most-asked questions.
Three steps. No money. No middlemen. Read it once and you can teach a neighbour how to start tomorrow.
- 1
Contribute Time, Skills, or Goods
Pick a wing, post an offer, or accept a Karyakarta task in your area. Every contribution is recorded on your member ledger and earns BCs.
- 2
Earn Barter Credits
2 hours of donation = 1 BC (₹100/hour). Goods valued by the Kosadhyaksha at fair-market BC value (1 BC = ₹200). Your Green Rating tier grows on contribution points, not BC balance.
- 3
Redeem for Real Value
Spend BCs on solar panels, EV cycles, MSME starter kits, training, or transfer them to a fellow Karyakarta.
How to Trade — Five Steps
Browse → Contact → Confirm → Rate → Re-trade
Five steps. Same flow whether you're buying veggies or hiring a tutor.
- 1
Browse on the bNg app
Open the app, browse the 12 sectors in either Goods or Services, see indicative BC ranges, and see which providers in your chapter offer that listing.
- 2
Make contact with provider
Message the provider through the app. Confirm availability, quantity, delivery details, and BC price.
- 3
Confirm the trade
Both tap “Confirm Trade.” App auto-debits BC from buyer's wallet, credits provider's wallet with the listed BC value. Delivery happens at Barter Mela or per agreed terms.
- 4
Rate and review
After delivery, both parties leave a one-word feedback. Repeated positive feedback boosts your Green Rating and earns extra Green Rating Bonus BC.
- 5
Re-trade
Repeat indefinitely. Build community wealth through repeat exchanges with trusted neighbours.
FAQs
41 questions, eight categories.
Jump straight to a topic, or scroll through. Open one — the others stay closed.
The Basics
- bNg (Barter & Green Foundation) is a registered Indian NGO running a community-powered barter economy where you donate time, skills, or goods and earn Barter Credits redeemable for solar panels, EV cycles, and MSME starter kits.
- bNg is a registered NGO (Reg. 869/2016). It is not a multi-level-marketing scheme. There is no income, commission, or downline-style scheme for members on the public network — you earn Barter Credits only by contributing real value.
- Sri Nettem Vijayababu (Founder & President) and Smt. Seetha Nettem (Secretary & Co-Founder).
- Nothing. Enrolment is free and always will be for individual Karyakartas. Optional CSR partner programmes for companies are paid.
- English today; Hindi and Telugu interfaces are coming soon. Field Karyakartas already operate in 8 Indic languages.
- Across 14 states of India — strongest presence in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Barter Credits (BCs)
- A Barter Credit (BC) is a unit of contribution. 1 BC = ₹200 of fair-market value. Time donations earn at 2 hours per BC (₹100/hour). Goods are valued at the fair-market rate set by the Kosadhyaksha (treasurer).
- No. BCs are not redeemable for cash, are not transferable to non-members, and have no monetary value outside the network. Their ₹200 anchor exists only to value goods and services consistently inside the exchange.
- Inactive BCs expire after 24 months of zero activity, with two reminder notices before expiry.
- Yes — peer-to-peer transfers are allowed within fair-use limits. Transfers above 500 BC need both parties to confirm.
- Inside the Member Dashboard at /dashboard, under Wallet. Every transaction is timestamped and counter-signed.
- Only if the original transaction is disputed within 30 days and ruled in your favour by the Karyakarta Pradhan.
Earning BCs
- Donating time on a Karyakarta task, completing a successful barter listing, planting trees verified by the Wing lead, mentoring a junior member, or contributing approved content to the bNg knowledge base.
- Use the Time Donation check-in/check-out in the dashboard, with a photo or geo-tag from the field. The Wing lead approves it within 48 hours.
- A soft cap of 8 hours per day (= 4 BC/day at the standard 2-hours-per-BC rate) keeps records honest and prevents fatigue. Special drives can be approved for higher caps.
- You earn community-network rewards for active referrals who post their first listing — designed to grow the network, not to enrich any individual. The exact rate is capped per month and visible inside your member dashboard.
- Own barters (skills, time, goods you list) are uncapped — typical active members earn 15–25 BC per month from their own listings. At ₹200 per BC, that is ₹3,000–₹5,000 of value moved through the network per month, on top of your tier’s monthly bonus.
- Yes — they’re tracked separately so partner companies can audit them, but the BCs still belong to the volunteer.
- Yes. List the goods, agree fair-market value with the requester or the Wing lead, and BCs settle once delivery is confirmed by both parties.
Redeeming BCs
- Solar panels (PM Suryaghar partnered), EV cycles, MSME starter kits, training programmes, books, and tree saplings.
- Yes. Bronze can redeem small items; Silver unlocks saplings & books; Gold unlocks EV cycles; Platinum unlocks solar and MSME starter kits.
- Books and saplings: under 2 weeks. EV cycles: 4–6 weeks. Solar installations: 6–10 weeks (subject to PM Suryaghar approval).
- Yes — solar plants, EV cycles, and MSME registrations are issued in the Karyakarta’s name with bNg as facilitator only.
- Yes for solar and MSME kits — you may top-up with cash for premium variants. EV cycles cannot be cash-topped.
Wings & Membership
- Abdul Kalam (technology, AI & Vighnana Vahini), Karna (barter exchange division), Chanakya (strategy & MSME), Vivekananda (youth, veterans & civic duty), and Ambedkar (seva, wellness & Nari Shakti).
- Yes — you can request a wing change once every 6 months. Your BC balance and Green Rating travel with you.
- A 4-tier ladder — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum — based on cumulative active BCs and consistency. It governs what you can redeem and whether you can vote in We-Five elections.
- Stand for election after 18 months of continuous Platinum-tier service with a clean dispute record. Voting is open to all Gold and Platinum members.
Trust & Safety
- Yes. Phone is the only mandatory identifier; OTP is hashed at rest and never logged. We never sell, rent, or share your number with third parties.
- Phone OTP + optional Aadhaar masking + a Wing-lead vouching step before Silver tier. Verified Karyakartas display a green tick.
- Raise a dispute within 30 days. The Karyakarta Pradhan mediates within 14 days; if needed, the BCs are reversed and the offending party warned, suspended, or expelled.
- Yes — Nari Shakti circles, mahila-only meetings, a 24×7 helpline, and reserved seats in We-Five governance.
- Internally every month by the Kosadhyaksha and externally every year by an empanelled chartered accountant. The Annual Report is published on /impact.
- Use the dashboard “Report” option, email info@mybng.org, or message the WhatsApp helpline. The Rakshak office handles all reports.
Tech & Privacy
- A mobile-first website (mybng.org) installable as a Progressive Web App. Native iOS and Android apps are scheduled after the model stabilises in 2027.
- You can browse cached listings offline; posting and check-in require a connection. Background sync queues your check-ins for when you’re back online.
- On Indian-region cloud infrastructure (Mumbai). We comply with the DPDP Act 2023; full details in the Privacy Policy.
- Yes — anytime. We retain only the audit-log entries required by law (financial trail of BCs) for 7 years; everything else is purged within 30 days.
- Only essential cookies (auth session) and anonymised analytics (GA4 with IP truncation). No third-party advertising trackers.
Partners & CSR
- CSR partnerships fund our solar / EV cycle / MSME kit pipeline, sponsor wing chapters, or run employee-volunteering days. Start at the Join page → CSR Partner tab.
- Yes — corporate volunteer days are welcomed. We co-design the activity with you and issue auditable BCs to participating employees.