The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) will be expanded by August 31, 2021, by adding ‘mobile prepaid recharges’ as a biller category. This move is expected to help millions of prepaid phone subscribers in the country.
Earlier in September 2019, the scope and coverage of BBPS were expanded to include all categories of billers which raise recurring bills (except mobile prepaid recharges) as eligible participants, on a voluntary basis. Prior to that, the facility of payment of recurring bills through BBPS was available only in five segments — direct to home (DTH), electricity, gas, telecom and water.
As per recent data, there were about 1,100 million prepaid phone subscribers in India as of December 2020.
BBPS is an integrated bill payment system that offers interoperable bill payment service to customers online as well as through a network of on-ground agents. The system provides multiple payment modes and instant confirmation of payment. BBPS functions under the aegis of the National Payments Corporation of India.
