Go Cashless With These Mobile Wallets In India

New Delhi: Right from the Prime Minister to local tea vendors - everyone is talking about going cashless. And one of the most popular digital payments options that has emerged is mobile wallets. Easy to use, conveniently accessible via smartphones, mobile wallets have made paying, receiving and transferring money as simple as a touch of a button. The biggest boost to these payment instruments came after the central government's decision to demonetise currency notes in November 2016 with popular wallets like Paytm experiencing massive jumps in their user bases. And with more and more vendors accepting payments through these, mobile wallets are here to stay.

Here are some of the most popular mobile wallets in India:

1. Paytm

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, e-gold, bills at shops and restaurants, movie tickets, railway tickets

Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry

With over 200 million users, Paytm is the market leader when it comes to digital payments in India. This mobile wallet has a wide network of partners that accept payments via the service. Some of the partnering merchants and vendors include Uber, Indian Oil, Foodpanda, Jabong, IRCTC, Domino's Pizza and PVR Cinemas.

Users can use their debit and credit cards or net banking to load money in the wallet. Additionally, users can transfer money to anyone with a Paytm account by either scanning their code or by simply entering their mobile numbers.

Paytm also frequently offers deals and discount coupons to its users. One can also shop for apparel and other goods listed on its e-commerce store via the app.

A unique feature (among mobile wallets) that Paytm offers is allowing its user base to buy digital gold currency (investing in gold online).

2. MobiKwik

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, DTH services, railway tickets, bus tickets

Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Another popular mobile wallet, MobiKwik currently has over 40 million customers and is accepted by 2.5 lakh merchants, according to its website. Like most mobile wallets, it allows users to make phone and DTH recharges, make payments at online and offline vendors, pay utility bills and transfer money to friends and family.

Money can be loaded in Mobikwik using credit cards, debit cards and net banking. However, these are not the only ways. One of this mobile wallet's unique features is that it offers doorstep cash collection service for people who do not have a bank account or a credit card. This service is presently available in Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram and Jaipur.

3. Oxigen Wallet

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, DTH services, fuel

Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Utility bill payments, mobile recharges and DTH payments can be made with the touch of a button with Oxigen Wallet. This service also gives users reward points for transactions made and allows users to send gift cards redeemable at Amazon, PVR and BookMyShow to others.

Additionally, Oxigen has tied up with RBL Bank to allow its users to create virtual pre-paid credit cards which can be used to make payments to services or vendors that only accept credit cards.

This mobile wallet service has also tied up with NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) for instant money transfers and allows users to make money transfers up to Rs 5,000 per day.

4. Citrus Pay

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, DTH services

Available on: Android, iOS

Citrus Pay boasts of 21 million customers and over 8,000 vendors and merchants who accept payments made through it. The app uses a clean interface to allow users to make payments, transfer and receive money from anyone with a phone number or an email address with a few taps. Money transfers can also be made to bank accounts.

One of the great things about this mobile wallet is that it allows users to track their payment history and patterns and leverages this data to make intelligent predictions about the amount that are to be made.

5. FreeCharge

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, DTH services, railway tickets

Available on: Android, iOS

FreeCharge can be used to pay mobile bills, DTH recharges, utility bills and is accepted by many vendors and merchants including IRCTC, Domino's Pizza, Snapdeal, Redbus and Goibibo. Money can be loaded in the wallet by using a debit card, a credit card or via net banking.

In Mumbai, the FreeCharge wallet can also be used to recharge metro payment cards.

6. Airtel Money

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, bills at shops, utility bills

Available on: Android, iOS

Like other mobile wallets, Airtel Money can be used to make post-paid mobile bill payments and pre-paid recharge payments to the telecom company itself as well as other payments and transfers to contacts and merchants. It also allows users to split their bills with friends and family.

Money can be loaded in this wallet using debit and credit cards as well as net banking. Users without bank accounts or credit cards have the option of putting in money in the mobile wallet by depositing cash at an Airtel Money outlet or an Airtel Relationship Centre. However, it is worth noting that Airtel does not give users the option of withdrawing this cash later.

Airtel Money also allows users to make transactions without loading money in the wallet first. These can be paid off later.

7. Vodafone M-pesa

What you can pay for: mobile recharge, utility bills, DTH services

Available on: Android, iOS

Unlike Airtel Money, Vodafone M-pesa allows customers to withdraw money from their mobile wallets at any time by transferring it into any bank account. Other than this, it works like a conventional mobile wallet facilitating DTH recharge, mobile bill payments.

This service is offered by Vodafone in partnership with ICICI Bank.

8. MomoeXpress

What you can pay for: restaurant bills, bills at shops (in Bengaluru only)

Available on: Android, iOS

This mobile wallet can only be used in Bengaluru and has tie-ups with over 3000 restaurants, bars, spas, supermarkets, apparel and lifestyle stores, and even auto rickshaw in the city. It allows people to make payments by either using the money loaded in the wallet or through the credit card/debit card information which can be saved on the app