Earlier today, Khazanah Nasional who has been entrusted by the government to manage the E-Tunai Rakyat program has announced that Boost, GrabPay, and Touch ‘n Go eWallet have been chosen as the official e-wallet services for the program. Almost immediately after the announcement, all three service have provided more information on how eligible users are able to redeem their E-Tunai Rakyat’s allocations.
If you missed the news, E-Tunai Rakyat allows Malaysians that are at least 18 years old with annual income of less than RM 100,000 to redeem RM 30 through these chosen e-wallet services. Originally announced at the tabling of Belanjawan 2020, this program is meant to promote the usage of digital payment among consumers and businesses in Malaysia.
To be available starting from 15 January 2020, there is an interesting note inside the FAQ document for E-Tunai Rakyat from GrabPay and TnG eWallet: users not only have to redeem the RM 30 by 14 March 2020, but they have to utilize it by the same date.
In other words, you can’t keep the RM 30 beyond 14 March for TnG eWallet or 15 March if you choose to redeem it via GrabPay. Hence, it begs the question: what would happen to the allocations that become expired or not redeemed by users?
Will they go back to the government or will these e-wallet services able to keep them around? With RM 450 million have been reserved for the E-Tunai Rakyat program, it is hard to discount the possibility that there could be some significant amount of unused allocations from the program.
We are now reaching out to the parties involved in E-Tunai Rakyat program for further clarifications. So, stay tuned.
(Source: GrabPay, TnG eWallet.)
