New Delhi: Giving a push for the country to go digital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday appealed the people, particularly the youths, to embrace e-banking and mobile banking for cashless transactions.
The Prime Minister suggested that mobile should be used for the banking purposes. "My mobile... My bank... My wallet," Modi said.
Following PM’s request to turn India into a cashless economy, we took stock of the different options available among mobile wallets. These were the ones that really seem to ease the cash crunch. .
Paytm
One of the most popular wallet apps in the country, Paytm started out with mobile recharges, DTH plans and bill payments but later launched an e-commerce marketplace as well. Its wallet partners include Uber, Bookmyshow, and Makemytrip, along with others. Notably, Paytm is the only app to provide such an option for online shoppers.
Also, it is the only wallet that supports IRCTC bookings and the only app to offer current and saving account deposits.
Freecharge
FreeCharge lets you recharge any prepaid mobile phone, postpaid mobile, electricity bill payments, DTH and data card in India. Interestingly, the app very recently added a new feature enabling it to recharge metro cards. the wallet can be topped up with debit cards, credit cards and net banking.
MobiKwik
Just like the other mobile wallet apps, MobiKwik can be used to recharge mobiles and pay bills but it's also accepted across merchants such as BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip, Domino's Pizza, eBay, among others. MobiKwik has done a good job of building up offline partners such as Cafe Coffee Day already.
Oxigen Wallet
The wallet allows users to top up money and use it for mobile data recharge, DTH and data card recharge. It also allows mobile payments for mobile, landline and electricity bills.
Its ideal use though is money transfers. The wallet can have a maximum balance of Rs.10000 and lets you transfer 5000 rupees per day and 10,000 per month.
Vodafone M-Pesa
M-pesa is an appropriate choice in case you need to send money to someone who doesn't have a bank account because the app lets you turn your virtual balance into cash easily.
The app lets you send money to anyone, to recharge prepaid numbers, DTH connections, postpaid Vodafone numbers, utility bills and online shopping.
Others
The above list includes the 5 most popular mobile payment wallets in India. There are many other widely used digital wallets like Airtel Money, mRupee, Freecharge, Citrus Pay etc. that are making lives easier for people in India.
Background:
The central government on November 8 demonetised old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes to crack down on black money holders. The move led to a cash chaos in the country.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to go for cashless transactions, his office on Monday conducted a training workshop for its staff in mobile banking, an official said.
Officers demonstrated the process of cashless transactions and helped their staff members download the relevant mobile apps on their phones, it added.
(With inputs from IANS)