Bharat BillPay Records Transaction Growth of 75% in March 2018

MUMBAI:
Bharat BillPay, the one stop bill payment ecosystem launched by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is becoming popular with each passing month.
The ecosystem has facilitated 31.5 million bill payment transactions in March 2018 compared with 18 million in March 2017 recording a growth of 75%.
Consumers can currently pay for the following in the Bharat Billpay Ecosystem–
· Electricity
· Water
· Direct-To- Home (DTH)
· Telecom (Mobile-Postpaid, landline-Postpaid and Broadband)
· Gas pipe-line bills
There are multiple channels available to a consumer for paying bills which includes Internet banking, Website, Mobile banking/mobile app, or physical collection points like Kirana shops/agents/BCs and bank-branches. Besides that, there are multiple payment options namely, Debit card, Internet banking, Mobile banking wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash etc. Once bills are paid, the consumer receives instant confirmation in the form of SMS / email or printed receipt.
A.R.Ramesh, Chief Project Officer, Bharat Bill Payment System said, “The primary reason behind growing acceptance of Bharat BillPay among consumers is the ease of making instant and safe bill payments to any biller of any state, city or region from anywhere in India. The consumer has the option of using Bharat BillPay enabled internet banking, mobile banking or Bharat BillPay enabled website/app/agent assisted collection points. By just seeing the Bharat Billpay logo,consumer can access the touch points and pay their bills in one go. Instead of using multiple apps or logging in to different websites or even travelling to various collection points, the brand empowers and promises a one stop destination for payment of all utility bills. Consumers save cost and time instead of travelling to different places or visiting various websites.”
A biller is a service provider/utility company who receives payment for the service rendered. Currently, the ecosystem has enabled 75 billers (Electricity: 49; DTH:3; Mobile Postpaid: 4; Landline Postpaid: 2; Broadband: 3; Gas: 10; Water; 4) who are spread across 20 states and 3 Union Territories in India, of which 13 billers are available across India. The objective has been to rapidly enhance the biller base to enable easier bill payment for consumers under one single ecosystem (Bharat Bill Payment System).
As of date 1.7 million agents have been on-boarded. About Bharat Bill Payment System: Bharat Bill Payment System is a Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) conceptualised ecosystem, managed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which offers integrated, accessible and interoperable bill payment services to consumers across geographies with certainty, reliability and safety of transactions.
It offers bill payment service to consumers through a network of agents/ retail shops/ bank-branches and digital channels like Internet banking, mobile apps, websites of banks and non-bank entities. As on date, 61 banks and 10 non- bank entities function as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units (BBPOUs) in the country. A BBPOU can be a bank or a non-bank institution which handles payment and aggregation of services related to bill payments under the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (Bharat Billpay).
Non-bank entities include aggregators, prepaid instrument issuers and consumer facing organisations. The pilot phase of Bharat Bill Payment System was launched by former RBI Deputy Governor, R. Gandhi on August 31, 2016. After successful completion of the pilot run, RBI accorded their approval and subsequently NPCI announced the launch of Bharat Bill Payment System on October 17, 2017.