The RBI decided to grant ‘in principle’ approval to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) in BBPS.
The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), an integrated bill payment system, will function as a tiered structure for operating the bill payment system in the country with a single brand image providing convenience of ‘anytime anywhere’ bill payment to customers.
It includes utility bill payments, such as electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH). Based on the experience, this would be extended to include other types of repetitive payments, like school fees, university fees, municipal taxes etc. in future, RBI said.
For collection of bills, RBI had also invited applications from non-banks/banks for which the last date for receipt of such applications/approval requests has been extended to December 18 from earlier November 20, 2015.
So far, RBI has received 12 applications for authorisation from non-bank entities and 18 requests for approval from banks for operating as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU).