Bharat Bill Payment System

Introduction-

Payment Channel-

BBPS is a centralised bill payment system for everyday bills of consumers. It covers repetitive payments for everyday utility services such as electricity, water, gas, telecom and Direct-to-Home (DTH), as mentioned on Bharat Bill Payment System's official website.

Payment Modes-

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

• Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU)- National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been authorized by RBI as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and 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 Bharat BillPay.

• Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU)- BBPOU is the entity that is authorized by Reserve Bank of India. It can be a Bank or a Non-Bank. BBPOU may choose to integrate either with the customers, (COU: Customer OU) or with the billers (Biller OU) or may wish to participate as both – which means such BBPOU will be integrated with customers as well as billers.
• Agent Institutions- Eligible Entities who wish to offer or those who are currently in bill payment, collection and aggregation business, would operate under a COU (Customer BBPOU) on receiving authorisation from RBI.
• Agents- Agents are the customer touch points and service points in the Bharat BillPay ecosystem available in the form of agent outlets, Business Correspondent outlets, Bank branches, collection centres, retail outlets
• Biller/Utility Company- Service providers, who shall receive payments from customers for services rendered. By participating in the Bharat BillPay scheme, the biller will be able to receive payments from third party channels for the services provided to the customer. A biller may tie up with up to two BBPOUs to access the entire universe of its consumers and all payment channels.

Bharat Bill Payment Services, a customer has to register either do it by visiting any BBPS retail outlet or online at BBPS website. You need to provide your personal details including name, address, email, mobile number and ID proof. After the registration, you will get a customer ID. This ID will be used for your future transactions.

You can visit either BBPS retail outlets or a bill collecting website to pay the bill through BBPS. If you want to pay in cash then visit BBPs outlets. However, outlets are currently only a few in numbers. Also, you can visit BBPOU, that are banks and agents, websites to pay bills. NPCI is working as BBPCU and operating the whole process of Bharat Bill Payment System. It does not actually own any financial transactions. It only works as a medium to connect various billers with agents through operating units.

• For Customers-

1. It is convenient and faster payments system.
2. It can use any of the various payment channels available on Bharat Bill Payment System.
3. It is suitable for payment of bills without having to worry about safety. Because it is a reliable, trustful, safe and secure platform.
4. It provides transparency in payment of bills and you get instant confirmation of bill payments.

• For Billers-

1. Billers will get faster settlements of transactions.
2. BBPS offers low-entry barriers for small billers so that they can register easily.
3. Billers will get the flexibility of plug and play connection options.
4. BBPS also provides reduced and efficient connections to billers. It makes CAPEX and OPEX lower for billers.

• For BBPOU-

1. In BBPS, BBPOUs get access to multiple billers with a single integration.
2. BBPOUs can perform both ON-US and OFF-US transactions. It gives them the wide reach to customers.
3. Bharat Bill Payment System also creates the possibility to offer value-added services for BBPOUs. It will allow BBPOUs to increase their online presence.
4. Bharat Bill Payment System offers guaranteed settlements. And the settlements are also done on time.
5. It also has a great dispute management system for BPPOUs.