Growth Story of Mobile Wallets after Demonetization

The mechanism of transactions in India is undergoing a transition. India is by tradition a cash-based economy and the country has experienced an increase in card-based and online transactions in recent days. Although the Government and regulators took steps to popularize cashless transactions in the country, but India continued to be a high-cash-usage country. On the 9th of November, 2016, the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi made a shocking announcement of demonetization of INR 500 and INR 1000 notes. Demonetization is referred to the act of stripping a takes place a change in the national currency. The old currency note must be withdrawn and replaced with new currency notes.The initiative of demonetization has been the most ambitious and huge step taken ever to crush the circulation of black money and fake currency notes and to guide India on the path of ‘cashless’ economy. As the majority of currency notes in circulation are of INR 100 and lesser denominations, India has suddenly started seeing a rise in the online transactions, card payments and mobile e-wallets in handling everyday expenses.

Paytm is an Indian e- commerce company having headquartered at Noida of U.P. It was launched in the year 2010. Paytm was founded by One97 Communications in 2010.The firm started its business by offering mobile recharging, bill payments, etc. After 5 years, it included the facility of booking buses for traveling as well. During the year 2016, Paytm launched movie ticket booking by entering into a partnership with Cinepolis. Paytm can be both accessed from the web browser and also can be accessed by any mobile running on Android, Windows and iOS operating systems. In the year 2014, the company introduced Paytm Wallet, which eventually became the country’s largest mobile payment service platform. The sudden rise in the usage of the service of Paytm was largely due to the event of demonetization in India that took place during the month of November in 2016. Paytm enables its users to book air tickets and also taxis. It facilitates mobile recharge and payment of DTH & broadband. Utilities like electricity bills, fuel charges can also be paid through Paytm. Paytm wallets can also be used to book movie tickets in multiplex like PVR Cinemas. Paytm coupons offer various facilities like cashbacks and rebates on flight bookings, purchase of IPhones, booking of cars, purchase of mixer grinders, etc. to the delight of customers.

FreeCharge is an e-commerce company having headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra. It facilitates facility to recharge mobiles, DTH and Data cards in India. In the year 2015, Snapdeal acquired Freecharge which according to  The Economic Times, the deal was of around US$400 to US$450 million. FreeCharge was started in 2010 with two co-founders. In 2011, the company was named as one of the most promising tech start-ups in India by Pluggd.in. The amount paid by a user of FreeCharge for mobile recharge is returned to him/her in the form of shopping coupons of some of the top Indian business entities in the retail sector. The initial two retailers whose coupons were available were McDonald’s and Barista. Later on, big retailers such as CCD, Domino’s Pizza, Puma Croma, Jet Airways and Shoppers Stop partnered with FreeCharge. Freecharge also offers the online wallet features through its app to its users. Freecharge like paytm also offers various coupons for customers. These Freecharge coupons offer cashback of certain percentage of payments on mobile recharge and bill payments, electricity bill payments, shopping at Petrol Pumps and certain retail outlets, etc. As a result customers get incentives for making fresh purchases and bookings etc.

Mobile Wallets or Digital Wallets or e-wallet apps allow the users to pay electric bills, recharge mobiles, book movie tickets and do a hell lot of stuff from their mobiles or computers. Linking their credit or debit cards or bank accounts with these e-wallet apps enables them to make payments with ease. One can generally load money into such digital wallets with the help of internet banking, credit card or debit card. Most of these e-wallets allow a limit of Rs 20,000  to a user who has not undergone the KYC submission process. Submission of KYC documents raises the limit to Rs 1lakh. Mobikwik is a versatile & secure app which aids a user to pay or transfer money with the usage of the mobile number. Mobile recharge shopping of diverse stuff and payment of various bills become super quick with this e-wallet. One can get huge discounts on their shopping. The app is available for mobiles operating on Android, iOS, and Windows operating systems.PayTM and Freecharge provide e- to make payments. They are more or less same in terms of nature and features. These two apps can be run on mobiles operating on Android, iOS, and Windows operating systems. State Bank Buddy by SBI is the first Indian e-wallet available in thirteen Indian languages. One can use this mobile app to send money, asking reminders fo clearing dues, instant bill payments and lots of stuff. The app is for Android and iOS. Airtel Money e-wallet was launched by Airtel Payments Bank. Making payments, doing mobile recharges and transferring money to any person having any bank account can be done through this mobile wallet. One can shop online availing huge discounts and coupons. The app is available for mobiles running on Android, iOS, and Windows operating systems. Mobikwik and various other e-wallets offer attractive coupons in terms of cashback and discounts to attract customers to make purchases. These coupons offer cashbacks and discounts on purchases of various items like women’s t-shirts, booking of cab rides, buying movie tickets, etc. These coupons by attracting customers in the demonetized era proliferate the markets.