The Bharat Bill payment system is a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conceptualised system driven by National Payments Corporation of India (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.
Bharat BillPay has multiple modes of payment and provides instant confirmation of payment via an SMS or receipt. It offers myriad Bill collection categories 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 consumer regarding any Bill related problems in Bharat BillPay
Bharat BillPay transaction can be initiated through multiple payment channels like Internet, Internet Banking, Mobile, Mobile-Banking, Mobile Wallets, Kiosk, ATM, Bank Branch, Agents and Business Correspondents, by just looking at the Bharat BillPay logo
Bharat BillPay facilitates myriad 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.
| Interoperable | Bharat BillPay is an integrated ecosystem connecting banks and non-banks in bills aggregation business, Billers, payment service providers and retail Bill outlets. |
| Accessible | Facilitate seamless payment of bills through any channel : Digital and physical. |
| Cost-effective | Most cost-effective for entire ecosystem – Flat fee charge vs current ad valorem. |
| Integration | BBPOUs will have to connect only to BBPCU to get access to all the billers. Utility companies just need to connect to maximum two BBPOUs to enable all customers to pay bills. |
| Complaint Management | Standardised system to handle customer grievances for both ON-US and OFF-US transactions. |
| Dispute Management | Facilitate BBPOU’s to raise and resolve disputes relating to transactions that have passed through the Bharat BillPay ecosystem. |
| Clearing & Settlement | Multiple Clearing & Guaranteed Settlements between different parties, standardised TAT. |
| Standardisation | Standardisation of processes for entire Bharat BillPay ecosystem. |
| Brand Connect | Single and trusted brand connect and Bharat BillPay Assurance. |
National Payments Corporation of India (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.
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.
Eligible Entities who wish to offer or those who are currently in Bill payment, collection and aggregation business, would operate under a COU (Customer BBPOU).
Customer BBPOU will on-board Agent institutions which may further on-board agents and/ or set up customer service points in various regions and locations.
Agents are the customer touch points and service points in the Bharat BillPay ecosystem available in the form of agent outlets, Business Correspondent outlets, Bank branches, collection centres, retail outlets.
Service providers, who shall receive payments from customers for services rendered. By participating in the Bharat BillPay scheme, the biller will be able to receive payments from third party channels for the services provided to the customer. A biller may tie up with up to two BBPOUs to access the entire universe of its consumers and all payment channels.
All recurring payments will be a part of Bharat BillPay ecosystem. The current live categories part of Bharat BillPay are as follows:
Other categories like mutual funds, credit cards, recurring deposits,clubs and assocaition, metro recharge etc. would be covered under Bharat BillPay shortly.