RBI enables cross-border bill payments via BBPS

RBI notified the rupee drawing arrangement for cross-border remittances through the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), paving the way for non-resident Indians to make bill payments through the channel.

“ …it has been decided to allow foreign inward remittances received under the rupee drawing arrangement (RDA), to be transferred to the KYC compliant bank account of the biller (beneficiary) through Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS),” the central bank said in a notification to all category-I authorised dealer banks.

The notification is aimed at implementing a measure announced by the RBI in its statement on developmental and regulatory policies on August 5. The BBPS, owned and operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay, has over 20,000 billers and it processes more than 80 million transactions on a monthly basis. So far, the payment channel was accessible only for residents in India.

The central bank decided to enable BBPS to accept cross-border inward payments in order to facilitate non-resident Indians (NRIs) undertaking utility, education and other bill payments on behalf of their families in India. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said the move will greatly benefit senior citizens in particular. The idea was also to benefit payment of bills of any biller on-boarded on the BBPS platform in an interoperable manner.