In line with super app unicorn Grab’s aim to boost digital payments to everyone in the Malaysian community, the ride-hailing giant’s fintech offering GrabPay has been selected to participate as an official partner in the Federal Government’s RM450 million e-Tunai Rakyat initiative aimed at amplifying the use of e-Wallets.

This development comes at a time when Grab is looking to become a major player in the Southeast Asian fintech space.

“We welcome and fully support our government’s progressive move to accelerate the adoption of e-Wallets and digital payments among Malaysians. While mobile penetration and the awareness of mobile payments is at 88per cent, according to Nielsen, only 8 per cent of Malaysians use e-Wallets,” said Sean Goh, Country Head of Grab Malaysia.

What is e-Tunai Rakyat Initiative?

For the uninitiated, e-Tunai Rakyat is an initiative by the Malaysian government to promote the usage of online wallets in the country. Under this initiative, starting from January 15 2020, the government will be giving RM30 to all eligible Malaysians. This money can be claimed from the participating wallets. Apart from GrabPay, Touch ‘n Go (TNG) eWallet and Boost are the three official e-Wallet partners.

According to reports, Malaysian citizens aged 18 years and above as of 31 December 2020 and are earning less than RM100,000 will be eligible for this scheme. In a bid to boost the usage of e-Wallets, the eligible recipients will get RM30 e-Wallet credit as an incentive. One can claim the incentives between January 15 –March 14, 2020.

The incentive credited to the account will need to be utilised by March 14. According to reports, the e-Tunai Rakyat balance will expire if not used within the time frame.

Grab’s Fintech Focus

Founded by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling in 2012, Grab which began as a ride-hailing platform has now ventured into several verticals. It is a super app which provides transportation, logistics and financial services.

The unicorn had launched its QR-code based mobile payments service, GrabPay, in January 2016. The service is currently available in six Southeast asian nations: Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Apart from accepting payments for Grab rides, the payment service can also be used for making in-store purchase, food delivery, and fund transfer.

Earlier this month, Grab launched a numberless card which can also be used as part of its e-Wallet app, in partnership with Mastercard. The GrabPay card is already available in Singapore. It will be launched in the Philippines by March 2020, and the rest of Southeast Asia by the first half.

The company had also launched SME lending and micro-insurance under “Grow with Grab” roadmap. It aims to provide comprehensive portfolio of financial services in Southeast Asia for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses.

“We hope to enable Malaysian businesses to operate and focus on growing their business without the safety concerns and burden of managing a cash centric business. To date, GrabPay has a variety of SMEs across our various services that are benefiting through our ecosystem by reaching the millions of Grab users who are actively using our platform on a daily basis,” Goh said in a statement.