How we price — cost of production plus a fixed margin
Every plan is priced by one formula we publish. It follows that the price per call falls as usage grows, and that we re-run the numbers as it does.
There is no pricing strategy here, only arithmetic. Each month it costs a certain amount to run the service — the database and the servers in Mumbai, the domain and mail, and the hours spent downloading states from LGD, checking the reports and loading them. Add 20%. Divide by the calls we serve. That is the price per thousand calls.
cost per 1,000 calls = fixed ÷ calls × 1,000 + variable
price per 1,000 calls = cost × 1.20 ÷ (1 − 1.20 × gateway)
plan price = included calls × price, rounded up to the next ₹9
The odd-looking denominator is the payment gateway: it takes a share of every rupee billed, and that share is a cost too, so the formula solves for the price that leaves exactly 20% after the gateway is paid. GST at 18% goes on top of the invoice and passes straight through — it is neither cost nor profit.
Why the price will change
Fixed costs dominate, so the price per call depends almost entirely on how many calls we serve. At half a million calls a month the number is about ₹25.60 per thousand; at two million it would be about ₹6.40. We publish the current inputs on the pricing page and recompute when they move. A period you have already paid for keeps its price.
What you are paying for
The data is the Government of India's, under its open data licence, and it will stay free at lgdirectory.gov.in. What the plan buys is the work between that download and a form your users can fill: the linking LGD leaves undone, the checks, the hints for namesakes, the notes, the uptime, and a person who answers when a state's export changes shape.