By Xavier Kong
E-WALLET players Touch N Go Digital (TGD), Boost, and GrabPay have been confirmed as the vendors for the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative, following an announcement from initiative facilitator Khazanah Nasional Bhd. This confirms our earlier story that TGD and Boost will be partner vendors for the initiative.
The initiative has been moved towards a launch on Jan 15, 2020, and will still run for a two-month period until March 14.
“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,” Khazanah noted in its announcement.
Khazanah also revealed the criteria for the selection of the e-wallet service providers, stating that each of them had a large number of active users, and large merchant networks. Each vendor also has the technical expertise, financial strength, and human resources to build the necessary systems, processes and procedures for the initiative, and are capable of handling a large number of transactions in a short period of time. Each of the e-wallet players has also invested significantly in its respective services in Malaysia.
The Ministry of Finance had appointed Khazanah Nasional Bhd to facilitate and coordinate the rollout of the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative, which involves close collaboration with various parties, including the National Registration Department (JPN) and the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
The implementation work will cover establishing the necessary mechanisms, processes and procedures for the initiative, including a merchant network, with Khazanah bringing selected e-wallet players on board to provide a ready platform for the 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,” said Ignatius Ong, CEO of TGD.
This follows the announcement of an e-wallet system called the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, in a parliamentary session earlier this month. The RM450 mil one-off digital stimulus announced by the Ministry of Finance under Budget 2020 aims to accelerate the use and adoption of e-wallets and digital payments among Malaysian consumers and merchants, especially small enterprises and retail businesses.
Through e-Tunai Rakyat, Malaysians 18 years of age and above and earning less than RM100,000 annually are eligible to receive RM30 each that can be spent on goods and services available through the participating e-wallet service providers of their choice.
Additional incentives from the industry players are also in the pipeline to further encourage users over the two months of the initiative, with the finance minister having shared that the initiative could be expanded, depending on reception.
“If it is well received, the initiative can be repeated to involve more users, merchants and e-wallet providers,” he told Parliament during the session on Dec 4. The RM450 mil for the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative comes under the RM50.3 bil allocation to transform Malaysia into an entrepreneurial nation, which includes the transition to a digital economy.
Of the RM50.3 bil, RM21.6 bil was allocated for the National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan, with the remainder meant for digitalisation incentives such as the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative. – Dec 20, 2019
