Now, your NRI son or daughter can pay your power, water bills and other utility bills in India directly. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled this process via the Bharat bill payment system (BBPS), opened for processing inward cross-border payments. It is an interoperable platform for bill payments.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conceptualised system driven by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) offers interoperable and accessible bill payment service to consumers via digital (bank channels) as well as through a network of agents & bank branches.The RBI now proposes to enable it to accept cross-border inward payments. Earlier, this service was available to customers in India only.

At a single window, it offers all recurring payments such as electricity, telecom, DTH, Gas, water bills, insurance, loan repayments, education fees, FasTag recharge, municipal taxes, housing society, subscription fees etc.

The payment modes options at BBPS are cash, cards (credit, debit & prepaid), IMPS, UPI, AEPS, internet banking & UPI, wallets.

The transaction can be initiated through both digital channels such as internet, internet banking, mobile, mobile banking, POS (Point of Sale terminal), MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale terminal), kiosk, and offline channels like ATM, bank branch, agents and business correspondents.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been authorized by the RBI as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU), which 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 BBPS.

Agents are the sole customer touch points and service points in the BBPS ecosystem which will be available in branch offices, collection centres, retail outlets and other service points. Agents can accept bill payments through various modes.

A consumer is the entity who wants to make a bill payment to any biller that is a part of the BBPS system. Consumer can make a bill payment of any of the bills e.g. Electricity, post-paid, landline, gas, DTH etc. online or through any BBPS Agent Outlet. The BBPS enabled Agent Outlet could be any retail store or Bank branch with the BBPS Logo or Banner.

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