‘Pay rent, education fees, taxes via Bharat Bill Pay’

Currently, BBPS only allows recurring bill payments to merchants. This restricts its usage for both customers making digital payments as well as billers as individual collectors cannot accept payments.

“It (BBPS) also does not cater to bill payments or collections such as payments of fees for professional services, education fees, tax payments, rent collections etc, for individuals even if those are of recurring nature,” the governor said.

Single payments towards utilities and to merchants as well as recurring payments to individuals, such as landlords for rent, professional fees to chartered accountants, doctors, among others, could not be made on the BBPS platform until now. This will now be changed to include all types of payments.

The scope of BBPS is being enhanced to include all categories of payments and collections, both recurring and non-recurring in nature and for all categories of billers, both businesses and individuals, the governor said. “This will make the BBPS platform accessible to a wide set of individuals and businesses who can benefit from the transparent payment experience, faster access to funds and improved efficiency,” he added.

BBPS was launched in 2017 and is managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In another development, the RBI has enhanced the capabilities of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) by allowing customers to block funds in their bank account towards a payment to a merchant through a payment mandate. This facility will enable customers to demarcate funds for specific purposes.

“It has, therefore, been decided to introduce a single-block-and-multiple debits functionality in UPI, which will significantly enhance the ease of making payments in e-commerce space and towards investments in securities,” Das said.