Financial Inclusion Mobile Payments

DBS PayLah! Users Redeemed More Than 1 Million Meal Subsidies in Less Than 3 Months

More than one million hawker meal subsidies have been redeemed by Singapore residents in less than three months since DBS rolled out its ‘5 Million Hawker Meals’ scheme.

DBS offered cashbacks of up to SGD 3 to the first 100,000 diners who use the PayLah! app to scan and pay for their meals every Friday in at least 11,600 stalls with SGQR codes.

The scheme was launched with the aim to provide some relief for the residents amid the persistent inflation that continues to drive up food prices.

Since the 10 February launch, PayLah! transactions, which currently make up more than half of all digital payments in hawker centers, more than doubled.

About 12% of those who redeemed their cashback were senior citizens while 24% earned less than SGD 2,500 a month.

DBS added that the number of senior citizens above 62 who used PayLah! at hawker stalls quadrupled while hawkers also observed a boost in their business – an increase of between 15% and 25% in their weekly earnings.

The three most popular hawker centers where people redeemed their meal cashback were Amoy Street Food Centre, Ghim Moh Food Centre and Kampung Admiralty Hawker Centre.

The bank is looking to subsidise five million meals over a period of one year until 19 January 2024.

Jeremy Soo

Jeremy Soo, Head, Consumer Banking Group, DBS Singapore, said:

“We are humbled by the overwhelming community support of the 5 Million Hawker Meals.

Besides diners, hawkers have also been great advocates who have been spreading the word and encouraging their customers to use pay digitally to enjoy the cashback.”