RBI Enables Bharat Bill Payment System to Allow Cross-Border Inbound Payments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to process cross-border inbound payments for the non-resident Indians (NRIs). After the enabling of the inbound payment process, the NRIs no longer need to send money to the India-based accounts of their family members to pay utility bills in India. Now, they will be able to pay these utility bills directly through BBPS. It was earlier reported that the RBI has been planning to enable the inbound payments.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the RBI announced to let NRIs pay utility bills and education fees of their family members in India using the BBPS, a payment portal of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

NPCI is an initiative taken by the RBI and Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to facilitate digital payments and settlement systems in the country.

The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das made an announcement in this regard last month. Back then, he said, “This will enable Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to undertake bill payments for utility, education and other such payments on behalf of their families in India.”

To recall, the BBPS is an interoperable platform to make payments and pay bills. The system reportedly has over 20,000 billers are part of the system, accounting for more than 8 crore transactions each month.