The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), a comprehensive bill payment system that connects multiple billers who accept online payment for their products or services, is expected to be launched by the first half of July.
Pranay Lakshminarasimhan
The platform will enable customers to use various ways of online payments or, in case of those who do not have access to internet or do not use the internet to make payments, visit any physical touch point belonging to any entity with a licence to operate a Bharat Bill Payment unit. It will be operated and managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Most banks and payment companies are expected to be a part of the BBPS, NPCI chief operating officer Dilip Asbe told FE. Asbe said once the platform goes live by mid-July, almost every biller who accepts online payment will instantly become a part of the BBPS.
“Say, you go to an Oxigen touch point to pay your bill. After the BBPS goes live, you could pay the same bill at any outlet belonging to an entity with a BBPOU license anywhere in India. It facilitates inter-operability and makes it very easy for a customer to pay his/her bills,” Asbe said.
So far, Oxigen and PayU India are the only two non-bank entities to have received an in-principle approval from the RBI to operate BBPOUs.
“We have a network of around 200,000 touch points across India and all these outlets will become BBPOUs. Also, we will bring our entire network of billers, who accept payment through our channel, on to BBPS, thus making it possible for customers of other players to make bill payments using our platform,” Pramod Saxena, founder and chairman of Oxigen Services India, told FE.
However, Sandeep Moonka, director and head of banking products at PayU India, feels otherwise. “I think the market will decide for itself about how they want to go about their bill payments. We have always been an online company and we don’t have any physical touch points. There are currently no plans of doing so,” he said.