Grab rolls out e-angbao service for Chinese New Year

SINGAPORE — This Chinese New Year, ride-hailing company Grab is rolling out a new electronic red packet service that will allow users to send and receive angbao in the form of GrabPay credits through its app.

From this Thursday (Feb 15), Chinese New Year’s Eve, to next Tuesday (Feb 20), users can send “GrabPay Angbao” to friends or family members who have registered their phone number with Grab, the company announced on Tuesday.

Users can send any amount between S$0.01 and S$500, together with a message, to their recipients, who will receive an app notification when they receive the e-angbao.

The money received, however, cannot be cashed out and can only be used as GrabPay credits. Senders must also have sufficient funds in their GrabPay wallet before they can send the e-red packet.

To promote the service, the company will reward senders who use the service by giving them bonus e-angbaos, which will allow them to save up to S$8.88 in GrabPay credits with each transaction. Each sender can receive up to eight bonus e-angbao per day, provided they sent their digital red packets to different recipients throughout the campaign period.

Currently, only DBS Bank members can send and receive e-red packets here using DBS PayLah!. The eAng Baos service was introduced in 2015, with a record number sent last year, five times higher than the number sent in 2016, said the bank.