RBI Authorizes BBPS to Allow Cross-Border Inbound Payments; Will it Boost Economy?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorized the Bharath Bill Payment System (BBPS) to process cross-border inbound payments for NRIs (non-resident Indians). With the inbound cross-border payments, NRIs will no longer have to transfer money to the India-based bank accounts of their family members to make utility bill payments in the country. With this new order from RBI, NRIs can make utility bill payments in India directly via BBPS.

Earlier, there were reports suggesting that RBI is in plans to enable cross-border inbound payments. Following the same, RBI issued a statement on Thursday that it has enabled this payment option to make it easy for NRIs to pay education fees and utility bills of their family members in India through BBPS, a payment portal of NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India).

For the uninitiated, NPCI is an initiative by the central bank and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to facilitate digital payments in the country.

BBPS is an interoperable platform to make payments and pay bills. Reportedly, the system has over 20,000 billers, accounting for over 8 crore transactions each month while it was available only to residents in India. BBPS will support payment options such as cash, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, internet banking, UPI, wallets, IMPS, and AEPS.

Cross-Border Inbound Bill Payments to Boost the Economy

Undoubtedly, the cross-border inbound bill payment is aimed at resolving challenges faced by NRIs in making payments in India. While NRIs are the biggest beneficiary of this move, this payment option is also expected to drive the economy. It will give a broader market approach for BBPS and enhance forex inflow in India, thereby promoting the adoption of BBPS by global bill payment ecosystems.

BBPS will support all recurring payments such as bills for electricity, DTH, telecom, water, and gas, education fees, municipal taxes, loan repayments, insurance payments, subscription fees, housing society payments, and more in a single window. It will provide an interoperable platform for a standardized bill payment experience, uniform customer convenience fee, centralized customer grievance redress mechanism, and more.