BHARAT BILL PAYMENT SYSTEM ( BBPS )

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched on 31.08.2016 a pilot project called Bharat Bill Payment System ( BBPS ) . BBPS is a payment system that facilitates Bill payments / Retail Payments across India . The BBPS system can be used for Merchant Payments , Bill Payments etc .Payments can be either made in cash or through any of the various electronic modes of payment. Cheque payments are not a part of the system. Participants who will function as operating units (OUs), will carry out these transactions for the customers.

The policy guidelines for the BBPS system were issued by the Reserve Bank of India on November 28, 2014. The document is available in the following link https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=9368&Mode=0. The BBPS will operate as a tiered structure with a single Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and multiple Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units (BBPOUs)
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MODUS OPERANDI OF BBP SYSTEM :

BBPS will be an integrated platform connecting banks and non-banks in bills aggregation business, Billers , payment service providers and retail bill outlets ​. BBPS will facilitate seamless payment of bills through any channel including Agent-Assisted Model at any Agent/BC outlet/bank branch/ online channels ​
BBPS plans to cover Electricity Bills , Water Bills , municipal Taxes , Gas Supply , telephone , DTH , School / College Fees , Insurance , Mutual Funds , Credit Card Payments etc . In the system , a customer can either walk into an outlet or log on to an OU’s website . A consumer can walk into these and make the payment by providing the reference number mentioned on the utility bill. The front-end will display the details of the bill and one can pay the amount.

BENEFITS OF BHARAT BILL PAYMENT SYSTEM :

Earlier a customer had to go physically to a utility provider to make payment either in cash or cheque . Now a days , most of the billers / utility companies are providing option of making payment on line through their websites . Some of the bankers are also facilitating payment through their bank branches / websites . New Non banking companies like Paytm , PayU etc are also facilitating various payment through their web applications / mobile applications . Such payments are facilitated through bilateral arrangements with utility companies / billers . In order to integrate such payments in to an uniform system , National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was formed . It is an umbrella organization for all retail payments system in India. It was set up with the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). NPCI has ten promoter banks namely, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC. The Board constitutes of Shri Balachandran M as the Chairman, Nominee from RBI, Nominees from ten core promoter banks, two Independent Directors and Shri A. P. Hota, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NPCI.

The Bharat Bill payment system has been developed by NCPI to make bill payment convenient ,• Time saving, having Uniform experience and flexibility of payment channels • It aims to give Reliable service with high degree of trust and security , Transparent pricing with instant payment confirmation and Unified Grievance Handling . Bharat BillPay transaction can be initiated through multiple payment channels like Internet, Internet Banking, Mobile, Mobile-Banking, POS (Point of Sale terminal), Mobile Wallets, Kiosk, ATM, Bank Branch, Agents and Business Correspondents, by just looking at the Bharat BillPay logo . Bharat BillPay facilitates many payment modes enabling bill payments. The payment modes options facilitated under the ecosystem are Cards (Credit, Debit and Prepaid), NEFT Internet Banking, UPI, Wallets, Aadhar based Payments and Cash.
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BHARAT BILL PAYMENT OPERATING UNITS :

Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit aka BBPOU is the entity that is authorized by Reserve Bank of India. It can be a Bank or a Non-Bank. BBPOU may choose to integrate either with the customers, (COU: Customer OU) or with the billers (Biller OU) or may wish to participate as both – which means such BBPOU will be integrated with customers as well as billers.​ Going forward, only authorised BBPOU - both banks and non-banks authorised by RBI - can handle payment and aggregation of payment services relating to bills under the scope of Bharat BillPay.​

HOW TO PAY BILLS USING BHARAT BILL PAY SYSTEM ?

1. Log in to any of the websites of the member establishments where you have account .
2. Go to bill payment section and select the type of bill you want to pay like electricity bill , water bill , DTH payment etc .
3 . Then select the biller whose bill you want to settle .
4 . You feed your ID number with the biller and other details and wait for bill to be fetched .
5 . The outlet will fetch you the amount of the bill and your details as per the bill .
6 . If it is the bill you want to pay , you can proceed and pay using the account with the outlet or using other accepted mode like Debit card , internet banking , credit card , wallet etc .

WHAT ARE THE BILLS THAT CAN BE PAID IN BHARAT BILL PAYMENT SYSTEM ?

SCOPE OF BBP SYSTEM EXPANDED TO INCLUDE PAYMENTS AND COLLECTIONS

Dated 08.12.2022 : BBPS currently does not enable non-recurring 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. Hence RBI has 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 system . Separate guidelines will be issued to NBBL in this regard.

​ Presently The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) covers six segments viz., (i) direct-to-home (DTH); (ii) electricity; (iii) gas; (iv) telecom , (v) water bills and ( vi) Mobile recharge

To go through RBI Notification in this regard , CLICK HERE