Shenzhen gives $4.5 million in e-CNY to boost consumption

The city of Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province is giving out digital RMB red envelopes valued at 30 million yuan ($4.51 million) through on-demand services platform Meituan to boost consumption and business recovery.

Consumers in Shenzhen could log on to the Meituan App and sign up for a raffle starting at 10 am on May 30, with winners obtaining e-CNY to spend on more than 15,000 offline e-CNY pilot merchants and the Meituan platform, news portal Economic View reported on Monday.

Previously, the city has given multiple set of consumption coupons to residents, which effectively boosted offline consumption. The transaction volume of business circles in Shenzhen's Longhua, Science park, Xili, Shajing and Minzhi increased 23.24, 15.37, 24.21, 23.89 and 21.56 percent respectively on a monthly basis from April 28 to May 26, Meituan data showed.

Giving out coupons, including e-CNY red envelopes, has become an effective measure for multiple regions in China to boost online and offline consumption. At least 20 provinces and cities have given out more than 3.4 billion yuan in vouchers, the report said.