Whether shopping online or paying for gas at a fuel station, mobile wallets have become the desired mode of payment. From their humble origins as simple means to transfer money, mobile wallets have become much more than that. They have become key parts of our daily life.

Especially in a country like India, it has proven to be a life saver. Half a decade ago Indian currency was in short supply due to sudden demonetization of certain bank notes. But digital wallets came in to save the day. Youth of India which was already tech savvy, were the first to adapt them and slowly the older generation also warmed up to them.

That is not to say mobile wallets only came into use after the demonetization. Digital wallets had been introduced to Indian people more than a decade ago, but the introduction of UPI and currency shortage propelled them to great heights in India.

In this article we will explore everything about mobile wallets and their growth in India over the last decade.

What Is A Mobile Wallet?

Mobile wallet, also known as ‘e-Wallet’ or ‘Digital Wallet’, is an online service usually in the form of an app that allows users to make electronic transactions. Just like a physical wallet you can add money to it, but digitally in this case and then use that money to shop online or send and receive money.

The Idea of Mobile Wallet

On the internet you might have seen a picture which shows devices like cameras, voice recorders, telephones, maps and calendar etc and below them a small mobile phone. Somewhere on the picture there is an inscription which says all these things are in your mobile phone now.

Following that course of evolution, it was only about time when our wallet also moved from our pocket to our mobile and that is exactly what happened. First, we replaced cash with cards and now cards with apps. The idea of paying with cards is so last decade and cash is so last century.

As for who did it first, it is a bit hard to pinpoint but in 1997 vending machines were introduced by Coca Cola which allowed customers to purchase their drink using text message.

Not exactly the mobile wallet of today but it perfectly showcases the innovative idea that one can buy stuff using only their mobile phone. Since then, mobile wallets have been improved in every aspect that we know today.

First Mobile Wallet in India

As of 2020 more than 15 different mobile wallets are operating in India. Some of them like PayTm and Spay India are local and others are from international giants like Google and Facebook.

If we go by date, Oxigen Wallet was the first mobile wallet in India and was launched in July 2004. Based out of Mumbai, it has been operating for over 14 years and is used by over 5 lac retail outlets.

Even though it is the oldest mobile wallet in India it did not get as popular as Paytm or Spay India because at the time of its introduction, smart phones were not as common in India as they are now.

Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh, MobiKwik is one of the oldest and most famous mobile wallets in India with a customer base of over 40 users and 2 lac retailers. It is considered the true trendsetter of mobile wallets in India

Also Read: digitalgpoint

Future of mobile wallets in India

A lot of different factors contributed to Mobile wallets being adopted by Indian society. First and foremost, it was the easy availability of low-priced internet and smartphones. Also, India is known for its IT industry and its youth is known to be particularly tech savvy.

But the last factor was the most important of all. As mentioned, before it was the demonetization 500- and 1000-rupee bill which really boosted the popularity of mobile wallets in India.

As of today, mobile wallets like Paytm, MobiKwik and SpayIndia have over 170 million unique mobile wallet users and it is estimated that there will be 800 million users by 2025.

Taking the lead in number of users are Paytm, Mobikwik and Ola Money. They have also been joined in by international giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon, who see a good future in the Indian fintech industry and have introduced their own digital wallets.

It is suffice to say adoption of Mobile wallets in India is well on its way and it won’t be long before it takes over cash-based transactions.