Online banking services: E-wallets vs Internet banking; which one should be in your smartphone

With government pitching for "digitalisation" making online payments have now gradually becoming a part of our daily routine. This transition became more "necessary" post demonetisation as getting physical cash was difficult. 

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister for electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said, there were around Rs12,000 crore worth of digital transactions every year and the number of fraudulent transactions among these was low.

While we are talking about digital payments, two online banking services have played a major role for making the country as cashless economy: E-Wallets and Net banking.

Starting with the meaning of the two. 

E-Wallets is a virtual digital wallet where you can save your funds to be used without the need for swiping any debit or credit card. It is one of the fastest modes of transaction and does not require a minimum deposit amount, as explained by BankBazaar.

To use an E-wallet, all you need to do is download application on your phone and fill in the basic details for sign-up. 

In case of internet banking, it is the most convinient payment methods for transferring money. Most banks have created their own apps that can be downloaded on the phone and used any time. Through mobile devices, users can make transactions through mobile apps, net banking facilities, or internet fund transfer services such as IMPS (Immediate Payment Services), NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer), and RTGS (Real-time Gross Settlement).

What makes both the banking services different from each other are their features. 

For instance, E-Wallet has transaction limit of Rs 20,000 per month as per Reserve Bank of India guidelines. While, there is no transaction limit because the money you will transfer depends on your balance in account. 

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