Here’s why other eWallets were not picked for the eTunai Rakyat program

The eTunai Rakyat program is an initiative by the government to increase eWallet adoption in the country. Eligible Malaysians can redeem the RM30 credit through three selected eWallets – Boost, Grab and Touch ‘n Go. Khazanah Nasional Berhad which was appointed to facilitate and coordinate the implementation and launch of the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative has revealed its selection process for the three wallets.

According to their official press release, the participating eWallets were selected based on four criteria, namely:

Large number of active users

To ensure that the initiative has a broad reach among eligible Malaysians, the eWallet platform must have a large number of active users. For the past four consecutive quarters, the top 3 most downloaded eWallets and the top 3 with the most active users are Grab, Touch ‘n Go and Boost.

Large Merchant Networks

Apart from providing the incentive to consumers, the program also aims to encourage more businesses to accept eWallet payments. To ensure that consumers can enjoy a wider selection of goods and services, the selected platforms must have a large network of merchant touchpoints. From our last update in October 2019, Touch ‘n Go has over 100,000 merchants while Boost has almost 115,000 merchants.

Expertise and resources

The third criteria are the platform’s technical expertise, financial strength and human resources to build the necessary systems, processes and procedures to support the initiative. The eWallet platform must also be robust in order to handle a large number of transactions in a short period of time.

Investments

Finally, the eWallets are selected based on their significant investments made in their respective services in Malaysia. Although Grab is now a Singaporean-based company, there’s no denying that they have put in a lot of effort to develop the cashless ecosystem in Malaysia which include cashless ride-hailing and delivery services. Of course, there more eWallet providers in country, but they are not as active in acquiring new subscribers and merchants as the top three. Most recently, Vcash, which is one the first eWallets in the country has shut down.

To recap, the RM30 eTunai Rakyat program will be running for a period of two months from 15th January to 14th March 2020. Malaysians aged 18 years old and above with an annual income below RM100,000 are eligible to claim the RM30 through a verified Grab, Boost or Touch’n Go eWallet account. A total of RM450 million has been set aside for the initiative which will benefit 15 million Malaysians.

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