India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd., the wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India, today announced facilitating cash-based assisted bill payments anywhere in the country at customers doorstep through the Bharat BillPay platform. The platform will also enable all non-IPPB customers to pay bills for various utility and other recurring services.
The bill payments service will benefit millions of unbanked and underserved customers in remote locations who will now be able to access payment solutions at their doorstep. Customers will now be able to conveniently pay for their recurring bills not only from the comfort of their homes but also by visiting their nearest post office. IPPB has also revamped its bill payments platform by including the best-in-class product features and various user interface-related enhancements. With this upgrade, over 20,000+ billers that are on Bharat Bill Payment System will be available to customers of various banks and IPPB.
Some of the new features of the upgraded version of Bharat BillPayare:
- 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
Speaking on the initiative, J. Venkatramu, MD & CEO, IPPB said, “With this collaboration, NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. and IPPB are set to empower citizens by enabling bill payments at the doorstep through our ubiquitous network of Gramin Dak Sevaks and Postal staff. 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.”
Noopur Chaturvedi, CEO, NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. said, “We are glad to associate with India Post Payments Bank that will give Bharat BillPay the wings to reach out to residents in the remotest part of the country. We believe that this alliance will transform the bill payments segment as the customers are now empowered to pay their bills as per their convenience – be it by sitting at home to our trusted Postman or visiting the nearest post office. We hope this revolutionary initiative will act as a change catalyst in furthering financial inclusion in India.”
Both IPPB and non-IPPB customers will be able to make recurring transactions such as mobile postpaid, D2H recharge, school fees, and other utility services by using bank’s mobile banking service. They will also be able to see updated transaction history, set transaction alerts & reminders, and raise/track complaints online for Bharat BillPay transactions using the IPPB digital banking platform.
Currently, Bharat BillPay offers recurring payment services to customers across several segments like electricity, DTH, gas, education fees, water, NETC FASTag recharge, loan repayments, health and life insurance, cable TV subscription fees, mobile postpaid & prepaid recharges, municipal services and taxes, clubs and associations membership fees, hospital and pathology tests and others.
Transactions on Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit have touched 60.62 mn by volume and Rs 10,530.2 crores 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.
