Bharat Bill Pay is the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) bill payment portal. Bills are automatically retrieved from billers and provided to consumers for action on auto-debit and payment management under the system. The objective is for all Bharat BillPay Operating Units to offer this service to their client's. According to NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL), the centralised infrastructure and application support is offered by Bharat BillPay Central Unit (BBPCU). Customers would benefit from UPMS since it assists to democratise regular bill payments and makes them more convenient. Bharat BillPay is a one-stop-shop for all bill payments, offering an integrated and accessible "Anytime, Anywhere" bill payment solution to all consumers in India, with transaction certainty, dependability, and security.
Did you know?
The Reserve Bank of India conceptualised the Bharat Bill Payment System, managed by the NPCI and started in 2013.
Bharat BillPay: One-stop destination for all recurring payments in India
Bharat BillPay accepts various payment methods and sends an SMS or receipt to confirm payment. It collects a variety of bills, such as electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, and water bills, as well as other recurring payments, such as insurance premiums, mutual funds, school fees, institution fees, credit cards, quick recharge, municipal taxes, and housing society payments, all in one place. In Bharat BillPay, an effective procedure for managing customer complaints has also been implemented to assist consumers with any Bill-related issues.
The process of using Bharat BillPay is quite simple. For example, if you want to submit your electricity bill using Bharat BillPay, these are the easy steps:
- Log in with the bank application such as net banking or using digital wallets.
- Log in using the Bharat BillPay icon or B icon under BillPay or Bill Payments tab.
- Provide the name of your bank after which you’ll be redirected to the bank page associated with Bharat BillPay.
- After that you need to select Electricity and select the relevant biller and state.
- Provide required details like consumer ID after which you can confirm payment and execute the process using this payment channel.
Different Payment Channels
By just looking at the Bharat BillPay logo, a transaction may be initiated using numerous payment channels such as the Internet, Internet Banking, Mobile, Mobile Banking, Mobile Wallets, Kiosk, ATM, Bank Branch, Agents, and Business Correspondents.
Different Payment Modes
Bharat BillPay supports a variety of payment methods for bill payments. Cards (Credit, Debit, and Prepaid), NEFT Internet Banking, UPI, Wallets, Aadhar-based Payments, and Cash are the payment mechanisms supported by the ecosystem.
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How to pay a bill using Bharat BillPay?
Pay conveniently and quickly using Bharat BillPay supported channels-
Physical Touch-Point
- Contact any Bharat BillPay agent outlet, bank office, or Bharat BillPay service point in your area.
- Mention the biller's name and kind (electricity biller, postpaid biller, etc.) for which the bill is paid.
- The agent/person in charge will check your information based on the given parameters.
- Check and double-check the amount to be paid, and customers can pay with cash, card, or Aadhar Payments, whatever is accepted at the specific agent outlet/branch.
- The agent outlet/branch initiates the final payment for the bill.
- The customer receives immediate confirmation of the bill payment via a real bill receipt with a Be-assured mark. An SMS is provided to the consumer's cell phone when the transaction is completed.
Digital
- Login/Connect using the Bharat BillPay icon or B icon under the BillPay or Bill Payments tab on any bank/non-bank application (e.g., webpage banking/app/wallet).
- Consumers can choose from various biller categories, such as electricity biller, postpaid biller, and biller for whom the bill is to be paid.
- The consumer receives their bill data based on the input of essential criteria. The Consumer can verify and re-check the amount to be paid and pay by net banking/wallet/UPI/card, etc., whatever option is permitted at the particular site/app.
- For a successful transaction, the customer receives an instant verification on the display mobile/web with a Be-assured emblem and an SMS delivered to the consumer's cell number.
Features of Bharat bill payment system
- Dispute Management: Facilitate Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), raising and resolving issues about transactions that have gone through the BBPS system.
- Complaint Management: For both ON-US and OFF-US transactions, a standardised mechanism to resolve client complaints has been developed.
- Integration: BBPOUs need to connect simply to Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) to access all billers. To enable all consumers to pay bills, utility firms only need to connect to a maximum of two BBPOUs.
- Accessible: Allow for smooth bill payment through both digital and physical channels.
- Interoperable: Billers, payment service providers, and retail bill outlets are all connected through BBPS, which is an integrated platform integrating banks and non-banks in the bill aggregation market.
- Cost-effective: Bharat Bill Payment system is the most cost-effective for the overall ecosystem as it operates virtually.
- Clearing & Settlement: Multiple clearing and guaranteed payments between several parties, with uniform TAT.
- Standardisation: There is a standardisation of processes for the full BBPS ecosystem.
- Brand Connect: BBPS provides quality service assurance with a single and trustworthy brand connection.
Key Participants of Bharat Bill Payment System
Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed the NPCI, i.e., National Payments Corporation of India, as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit, which is in charge of developing business standards, rules, and processes for the technical and commercial requirements of all players. The BBPCU is responsible for processing transactions for all Bharat BillPay transactions.
Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU)
The Bharat Bill Payment Operational Unit, or BBPOU, has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India. A bank or a non-banking financial entity might be involved. BBPOU can choose to interface with consumers (COU: Customer OU), billers (Biller OU), or both (so in that case, BBPOU is connected with both consumers and billers).
In the future, only authorised BBPOUs - both banks and non-banks - are capable of handling payment and aggregation of bill-related payment services beneath the Bharat BillPay programme.
Agent Institutions
A COU would govern the operations of eligible entities who intend to provide or are already in the bill payment, collection, and aggregation industry (Customer BBPOU). Consumer BBPOU onboard Agent institutions, which may onboard more agents or open customer service centres in other countries and locations.
Agents
In the Bharat BillPay ecosystem, agents are consumer touchpoints and service points in the kind of Business Correspondent outlets, agent outlets, collection centres, Bank branches, and retail outlets.
Biller/Utility Company
The biller is the service provider who will be paid by clients for the services. The biller would accept payments via third-party networks for the services given to the client if they join the Bharat BillPay program. To access the customers and all payment methods, a biller can partner with two BBPOUs.
Consumer
A consumer is an individual or business who wishes to pay a bill to any biller in the BBPS system. The user can pay any bill, such as electricity, postpaid, telephone, gas, DTH, and so on, online or at any BBPS Agent Outlet. Any retail business or bank branch only with a BBPS logo or banner can be a BBPS enabled Agent Outlet.
Benefits of Bharat bill payment system
For Banks
- Through a network of agents, Bharat Bill Payment System provides clients with the ability to pay bills "Anytime, Anywhere" on the BBPS network.
- It is anticipated to make bill payments accessible to huge parts of the unbanked and underbanked population.
- BBPS provide interoperability, allowing consumers to pay bills from any biller at a single location and to make payments in a variety of ways, including cash, debit cards, credit cards, prepaid payment instruments such as wallets, and other electronic payment options such as Net Banking, IMPS, NEFT, and so on.
- Bill payment service points are projected to become commonplace, with locations near consumers' places of employment or housing.
- Bank branches, business correspondents, Customer Service Points, retail agents of aggregators, ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), Kiosks, and other BBPS outlets might be included.
- Customers can pay invoices from billers registered in the Bharat Bill Payment System at any BBPS store.
- Sends a payment receipt/confirmation message as instant confirmation of payment. The receipt might be in the form of an SMS, an email, or a printout, depending on the customer's preferences.
- The BBPS brand inspires consumer trust and confidence in the transaction's certainty, dependability, and security.
For Customers
- In India, bill payment standards are established for the network and its players.
- Consumers find it to be an efficient and handy medium.
- In the future, BBPOUs may offer a variety of value-added services related to bill payments to customers, subject to strict adherence to data privacy and security problems and regulations. The systemic risks in collecting and settlements are greatly reduced.
- Has the potential to lower the amount of money billers spent on bill collection through their collection facilities.
- This results in a speedier transition from assisted to self-service payment modes and from cash to e-payment of bills.
- E-presentation of bills and speedy e-payment of bills have the potential to be made easier.
- Small billers and billers with a limited geographic presence have much lower entry hurdles.
- There is more rivalry among system members, which will benefit consumers.
- A fraud tracking and risk mitigation mechanism are in place in the Bharat Bill Payment System.
- A centralised, effective, and efficient system for resolving customer complaints and grievances, with agreed-upon SLAs for resolution.
While PayTM and a few other wallets have previously made similar services available through their web channels, their reach has been confined to big Tier I and Tier II locations. BBPS has the potential to make these nationwide phenomena, allowing people in remote areas to pay their bills through BBPS operational units, whether it's a bank or an internet service provider. It would also give access to payments via ATMs, MPOS (mobile point-of-sale) devices such as smartphones, tablets etc., business correspondents, and agents once fully operational, allowing complete integration of services even in the most distant places. While the NPCI does not stipulate any fees for these services, banks may charge a fee to make them feasible. Customers have been attracted to wallet providers by discounts, but the entire business may shift to banks collecting a convenience charge.
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Conclusion
With the introduction of payment systems such as UPI, Bharat BillPay, and BharatQR, the Indian payments sector has seen significant changes in recent years. E-wallets and other creative payment firms that have been incubated for a long time are now seeing success, partly as a consequence of the government's drive for digital payments, demonetisation and partly as a result of their customer-centric solutions. With Indians increasingly accepting digital payments and enhancing their knowledge related to its uses and security, the time has come for the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to capitalise on the momentum and bring the whole billing sector under one payment system. BBPS's success depends on a concerted effort to bring together diverse stakeholders, including emerging fintech, to continue to provide the greatest possible client experience.
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