Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced plans to expand Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) for payments and collections of businesses and individuals.

“The scope of BBPS is being enhanced to include all categories of payments and collections — both recurring and non-recurring and for all categories of users — merchants and individuals,” Das said.

The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an interoperable platform for standardised bill payments. Over 20,000 billers are part of the system, and more than 8 crore transactions are processed on a monthly basis.

As per the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies released by RBI on December 7, 2022, “Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), an interoperable platform operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL), has been facilitating the bill payment needs of consumers and billers alike. Since its launch in 2017, the Reserve Bank has, from time to time, announced various improvements to this platform like including all categories of billers who raise recurring bills, facilitating in-bound cross-border bill payments, reducing the eligibility criteria for Operating Units (BBPOUs), etc. The volume and value of transactions handled on the platform has been increasing steadily. However, BBPS currently does not enable nonrecurring payments or collection requirements of individuals even if they are recurring in nature. Consequently, some categories of payments /collections remain outside the ambit of the BBPS viz., professional service fee payments, education fees, tax payments, rent collections, etc. It has, therefore, been decided to expand the scope of BBPS to include all categories of payments and collections, both recurring and non-recurring in nature. This will make the platform accessible to a wider set of individuals and businesses who can benefit from the transparent and uniform payments experience, faster access to funds and improved efficiency. Separate guidelines will be issued to NBBL in this regards.”

What is Bharat Bill Payments System?
As per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) website, BBPS is a payment system conceptualised system by RBI and driven by the NPCI. It is a one-stop ecosystem for payment of all bills providing an interoperable and accessible “Anytime Anywhere” Bill payment service to all customers across India with certainty, reliability and safety of transactions.

This payment system offers multiple modes of payment and provides instant confirmation of bill payment via an SMS or receipt. A customer can pay various utility bills like electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, water bills, etc. and also other repetitive payments like insurance premium, mutual funds, school fees, institution fees, credit cards, fastag recharge, local taxes, housing society payments, etc. at one single window. An effective mechanism for handling consumer complaints has also been put in place to support consumers regarding any bill-related problems in BBPS.

The payment modes options facilitated under the ecosystem are Cards (Credit, Debit and Prepaid), NEFT Internet Banking, UPI, Wallets, Aadhar-based Payments and Cash.

NPCI has been authorized by RBI as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and is responsible for setting business standards, rules and procedures for technical and business requirements for all participants. The BBPCU undertakes clearing and settlement activities related to transactions routed through Bharat BillPay.