NPCI gets RBI nod to function as Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit

Key Highlights 

• NPCI was running bill payments as pilot for over a year 
• Soon you can pay electricity, DTH, telecom bills using NPCI 
• Power sector alone generates 18 crore bills monthly

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Friday said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave its nod to the agency to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

AP Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI said, “There is a specific direction from RBI to operate the Central Unit as a Strategic Business Unit of NPCI. Nearly 45 crore bills which comprises of Electricity, Telecom, DTH, Water and Gas are permitted under BBPS. This initiative will provide a major push to digital payments as it is a big step forward in formalising the bill payment system in the country.”

What this means is that you could soon use your UPI account to pay your bills like electricity, phone, etc with a click of a button on your mobilephone. 

At present the bulk of transactions on BBPS are towards payment of electricity bills. The power sector potentially contributes to about 18 crore bills per month out of which only 10% is digital, NPCI said.

"The likelihood of meeting the target of generating 25 billion digital transactions during the current financial year depends critically on the power sector getting on-boarded on BBPS system," it added. 

“The real impact would be visible only when SBI joins,” added Hota.  

Total number of Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) certified by NPCI now stands at 24. The certified units include three public sector banks (Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank), 10 private banks, 5 Cooperative Banks and 6 non-bank biller aggregators.