Freecharge to Offer e-wallet Insurance for Balances up to Rs 20,000

In a bid to tackle increasing cyber crimes and online frauds in the country as e-commerce expands, Digital l payments company Freecharge on Tuesday said it will provide free insurance on wallet balance of up to Rs 20,000 on their e-wallets to users in case of loss or theft of mobile phones.

The Snapdeal-owned company has partnered Reliance General to provide free insurance on wallet balance to customers, including consumers and merchants. “With this move, FreeCharge takes another step in proactively addressing consumer concern around the usage and security of e-wallets, safeguarding the money of the consumer in the event of theft or loss of his/her phone,” Freecharge said. In case of loss or theft of phone, the customer needs to lodge an FIR within 24 hours at the local police station and report the same immediately to FreeCharge via e-mail or by calling customer care.

Under the wallet insurance arrangement, the wallet balance of customers will be insured up to a limit of `20,000, as long as the user is transacting at least once a month. E-wallets is now the new target for cyber criminal. The e-wallet insurance arrangement comes at a time when more than 70% of rural citizens have adopted the methods of e-wallets followed by Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment option.

This year, in September, nearly 100 customers of e-wallet FreeCharge lost 8,000- 10,000 across the country in cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi only to be restored later as the e-wallet’s system met with a phishing attack.

“Over the course of operations, we have realised that consumer perception of wallet safety is critical to drive both adoption and retention of our customers and hence, we are offering this plan to our consumers free of cost. We believe this is another step to help realise the vision of a less-cash India,” FreeCharge CEO Govind Rajan said.

Data released by the Ministry of Electronics & IT revealed that more than 85% of the merchants have adopted the e-Wallet system and 13% have opted for UPI. Rest of the people looked at Adhaar Enabled Payment System, debit and credit cards or Point of Sale (PoS).

Over 55,000 merchants have started offering digital payment options to rural customers across various districts and blocks in India.