India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and NPCI Bharat BillPay on December 10 announced the facilitation of doorstep cash-based assisted bill payments across India. The platform will enable bill payments, utility and other recurring services for non-IPPB customers as well, as per an IPPB release.
Bharat Bill Pay is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
J Venkatramu, MD and CEO of IPPB said the collaboration will “empower citizens by enabling bill payments at the doorstep through the Gramin Dak Sevaks and Postal staff networks.”
“Leveraging the last mile network of Department of Posts and IPPB’s technology driven digital banking platform, Bharat BillPay offers a one-stop ecosystem for payment of all bills providing an interoperable and accessible anytime anywhere bill payment service to all customers across India with certainty, reliability and safety of transactions,” he added.
Noopur Chaturvedi, CEO of NPCI Bharat BillPay said the alliance will “transform the bill payments segment”, adding that they hope the initiative will “act as a change catalyst in furthering financial inclusion in India.”
Customer will be able to pay recurring bills from either their homes or the nearest post office. The service is expected to benefit millions of unbanked and underserved customers in remote locations with access to doorstep payment solutions, the statement added.
IPPB and non-IPPB customers will be able to make recurring transactions such as mobile post-paid, D2H recharge, school fee, and other utility services by using bank’s mobile banking service. They will also be able to see updated transaction history, set transaction alerts and reminders, and raise or track complaints online for Bharat BillPay transactions using the IPPB digital banking platform.
IPPB has also upgraded its bill payments platform by integrating “best-in-class product features and various user interface-related enhancements”. This will allow IPPB and other bank customers to engage with the over 20,000+ billers on Bharat Bill Payment System.
Some of the new features include:
- Pay any recurring bills through cash mode
- Updated transaction history with maximum details
- Set transaction alerts and reminders
- Updated on screen user experience
- Raise/track complaints online for bill payment transactions
- Addition, selection, and modification of billers
- Enabling notifications, snooze alerts & reminders
Transactions on Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit have touched 60.62 million by volume and Rs 10,530.2 crore by value for over 20,349 billers in October 2021. It is growing rapidly on account of the ease and accessibility it offers to the customers and the one-stop solution to billers for low-cost collections.
