Khazanah Nasional Berhad today announced that Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Boost and GrabPay have been selected to participate in the Federal Government’s RM450million e-Tunai Rakyat initiative which offers free RM30 credit to eligible Malaysians.
The three e-wallet service providers are among Malaysia’s largest and collectively provide a ready platform for the rollout of the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative, which is scheduled to be launched on 15 January 2020.
Malaysians 18 years of age and above and who earn less than RM100,000 annually will be eligible to receive RM30 each through any of the participating e-wallets. The free RM30 credit can be used to purchase goods and services available through the respective e-wallet of their choice.
The e-Tunai Rakyat initiative will run for two months from 15 January 2020 to 14 March 2020. The participating e-wallet service providers were selected based on four criteria, namely:
- Large number of active users. This is to ensure that the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative has a broad reach among eligible Malaysians.
- Large merchant networks. This is to enable more traders to take advantage of the incentive spending, while consumers can enjoy a wide selection of goods and services.
- Technical expertise, financial strength and human resources to build the necessary systems, processes and procedures for the initiative, and ability to handle a large number of transactions in a short period of time.
- E-wallets that have invested significantly in their respective services in Malaysia.
As announced by the Ministry of Finance, the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative aims to accelerate the greater use and adoption of e-wallets and digital payments among Malaysian consumers and merchants, especially small enterprises and retail businesses. Khazanah was appointed by the Ministry of Finance to facilitate and coordinate the implementation and launch of the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative within the given time frame.
The participating e-wallet service providers will provide more details on how eligible Malaysians can claim and use the RM30 incentive under the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative.
“We are in full support of the Government’s initiatives to spur a digital economy and we want to ensure that no Malaysian is left behind as the country powers towards becoming a fully digital economy. As the pioneer in micropayments, the government has entrusted Touch ‘n Go eWallet to implement the e-Tunai Rakyat to bridge the gap between cashless and cash in Malaysia. We hope to give Malaysians the confidence they need to adopt the inevitable cashless lifestyle,” said Ignatius Ong, CEO, TNG Digital Sdn. Bhd.
In order for the rakyat to be eligible to make the claim via the Touch ‘n Go eWallet, users will first have to register for a Touch ‘n Go eWallet account and complete the quick Account Verification process (eKYC process). To verify the Touch ‘n Go eWallet account, users will have to take a snapshot of their Identification Card (IC), a selfie and fill in their details, after which, their account will be verified.