Highlights:
At present, the service of payment of recurring bills through BBPS is only available in five segments, namely the direct to home (DTH), electricity, gas, telecom, and water.
The Reserve Bank of India recently had expanded the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) in the direction of covering all repetitive bill payments, which might consist of school fees, insurance premiums, and municipal taxes.
Presently, the facility relating to the payment of recurring bills by means of BBPS is only available in 5 sections, they are; direct-to-home (DTH), electricity, gas, telecom as well as water.
However, with the expansion of the range of the payment facility, the new system shall now allow other recurring payments for example school fees, equated monthly installments (EMIs), mutual funds, insurance premiums, and municipal taxes, amongst others.
In a circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India, it specified that BBPS, functioning under the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), shall recognize all segments of billers who raise repetitive bills as qualified participants voluntarily.
The RBI also stated in the circular that as announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies released with the Third Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2019-20 of August 07, 2019, to leverage the advantages of the BBPS and make use of its full potential, it were decided towards expanding the scope as well as coverage of BBPS to comprise every categories of billers who raised recurring bills (excluding prepaid recharges) as eligible participants, on a voluntary basis.
The Bharat Bill Payment System operates under the guidance of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). BBPS payments could be made by utilizing cash, cheques as well as through digital methods like internet banking, debit, and credit card, amongst others. Bill aggregators and banks function as operating units and perform these payment transactions for consumers.
According to the website of BBPS, the facility shall be expanded to comprise other types of repetitive payments like insurance premium, mutual funds, school fees, EMIs, as well as municipal taxes, among others.
The decision of RBI to expand the coverage overall recurring billers is estimated to improve the user base of BBPS. The user-friendly and effectual system can soon be an economical alternative for the existing billers.
These sections will also be beneficial for the standardized bill payment experience for customers, centralized customer grievance redressed mechanism, set consumer convenience fee and the similar mechanism except digitization of the money based bill payments.
Commenting on the decision of the RBI, it could be said that the expansion of biller categories shall increase the user base of Bharat Bill Pay together with providing a well-organized, cost-effective substitute towards the existing systems and improve consumer confidence as well as experience.
What is the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS)?
The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is generally an integrated bill payment system which furnishes consumers by means of interoperable and effortlessly accessible bill payment services. Customers could take advantage of the facility, either online or offline. Through the system offering many modes of payments with instant payment confirmations, BBPS can be considered as a better consumer-friendly alternative towards the existing systems.
eStartIndia is the professional tech-based online business and legal service providing a platform which helps the clients to simplify the procedures of all kinds of registration, implementation, tax concerns and any other legal compliances and services related to the business in India.
Author:
Leave a Comment
Previous Comments