Reserve Bank of India is planning to create an Indian Bill Payment System (IBPS) that will be behave like a centralised payment gateway for making all bill payments. Besides paying bills, the system could also be adapted for use by educational services, financial and insurance services, government services, technology and media services, telecommunications and utilities services, apart from transportation services. The new proposed system will operate in a tiered structure, with a non-profit such as National Payments Corporation of India acting as the Bharat Bill Payment Services (BBPS), the standard setting body. For-profit companies will be called Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units (BBPOUs) and will be the authorized operational units, working in adherence to the standards set by the BBPS. Any company registered under the Companies Act 1956 can become a BBPOUs after obtaining necessary certification from BBPS for joining the centralised bill payments system. Why is RBI developing such a system? - There is no interoperability in current bill payment solutions. - Low trust in agent network, so people prefer to make payments physically with the service provider. - Bill payment centres are not easily accessible in rural areas. - There has not been any industry driven approach to solve the issue of interoperability that would not only make bill payments convenient for consumers, but also improve operations efficiency of the billing company. - There is no single website from where all bills can be accessed and paid. How will this help you? Till now you had to visit multiple sites to make bill payments or even different…
