Final Guidelines for Bharat Bill Payment System Issued by RBI -

Final Guidelines for Bharat Bill Payment System Issued by RBI

Nov 30, 2014 Sanjay Tandon Economy 0

Final guidelines for introduction of BPPS have been issued by RBI. This new payment system will enable people to pay all their bills under a single window. Just take all your unpaid bills to a centre accepting payment under this scheme (they will be referred to as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units) and make payment to avoid late fees.

Final guidelines have appeared on the website of RBI

According to these guidelines, National Payments Corporation of India will serve as a nodal unit for all BBPOUs. This agency will also perform the important functions of settlement and clearing under BBPS. All individuals and companies interested in becoming an operating unit under BBPS are hereby advised to contact the nodal agency (namely NPCL) to know all the modalities. They should submit their applications for becoming a BBPOU under this system to become authorized under Payment & Settlement Systems Act 2007. These applications need to be forwarded to the Reserve Bank of India. The notice confirming the dates for submission of these applications will be released soon.

GIRO advisory group was set up on recommendations of Padmanabhan committee

It was the recommendations of Payment System Vision in India that laid the foundation of BBPS. This vision document reflected the need for a centralized payment collections system with the involvement of both private and public sector enterprises. The RBI set up Padmanabhan Committee to explore the possibility of setting up such a GIRO payment system and later to make up the norms and guidelines for introducing such a payment system. This committee suggested setting up GIRO Advisory Group. This group came into existence under the leadership of Professor Umesh Bellur and worked to finalize a unified payment system that could collect payments of various bills from people across the country under single roof. This group suggested creating hundreds and thousands of touch points across the length and breadth of the country to allow customers to pay their bills in an easy and convenient manner. All the suggestions of this group such as a tiered structure of the payment collection points and a nodal agency to take care of settlements and clearing were published on the website of the RBI to invite comments and suggestions from common public. All the final norms and guidelines placed on the website of RBI have been finalized after taking into account these suggestions and comments.

It is interesting to note that last year alone, nearly 3000 crore bills were prepared by various utility departments of the government in top 20 cities of the country alone. These bills amounted to more than 600000 crore and the companies received payment form customers in cash, check, or through online payment with credit cards. With the introduction of a centralized payment system such as BBPS, it becomes possible for the government to closely monitor bill payments in addition to getting the ability to have a record of these financial transactions. This payment gateway will allow all people to make payments to their various bills sitting in the comfort of their homes even if they do not have access to internet banking or even credit cards.

BBPS is also a great idea to tap the section of the population that is unbanked as it allows people without having bank accounts in their names to make payments.

BBPS, Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units, Guidelines for Bharat Bill Payment System, RBI

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Sanjay Tandon

Sanjay Tandon is a graduate engineer from IIT Varanasi. He has been writing as a freelancer for many years. He loves to write on various niches. He is passionate about politics and economy and spends his free time watching news channels. He is also an expert on relationships.