RBI issues final norms
for uniform
payment collection system
payment collection system
MUMBAI: The Reserve
Bank today came out with the final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment
System (BBPS), which will help consumers pay multiple bills like electricity,
telephone and school fees at a single point of transaction.
"The BBPS is an
integrated bill payment system offering inter-operable and accessible bill
payment service to customers through a network of agents, enabling multiple
payment modes, and providing instant confirmation of payment," the RBI
said in a notification in this evening.
The RBI-promoted
payment retail gateway and the issuer of the Rupay debit Cards, the National
Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has been appointed as the nodal body.
The apex banks has set
a Rs 100-crore networth and domestic registration as qualifying conditions for
those seeking to be authorised collection agents.
RBI Governor Raghuram
Rajan had first announced the central bank's intention to set up BBPS in the
second quarterly monetary policy review last year, after which a committee
was constituted to suggest the way forward. Based on the recommendations, it
posted the draft guidelines on the same on August 7.
The move will help
track all the payments being made in economy, including cash payments to
utilities, schools, and telcos among others.
Stressing on the need
to have such a system in place, the RBI pointed to a 2013 estimate, which said
over 30,800 million bills amounting to Rs 6,22,300 crore are generated each
year in the top 20 cities alone.
The final guidelines
came a day after the RBI came out with the final guidelines for licensing of
payment and small banks.
To start with, the
aggregators, who will be operating under a single brand name across the
country, will collect repetitive bills which come in monthly, bi-monthly or
quarterly cycles like utility bills, it said, adding the aim is to gradually
include payments for school or university fees and municipal taxes.
The National Payment
Corporation of India (NPCI) has been appointed as the nodal body which will set
the standards, and also take care of clearing and settlement as the Bharat Bill
Payment Central Unit (BBPCU).
In the tiered BBPS
set-up, there will be authorised operational units called Bharat Bill Payment
Operating Units (BBPOUs) with an agent network under the BBPCU, the apex bank
said.
The RBI said the
participants in the BBPS will include authorised entities such as BPCU, BBPOUs
as well as their authorised agents, payment gateways, banks, billers and
service providers, and other entities, including authorised prepaid payment
instrument issuers.
The regulator has laid
down detailed guidelines for non-bank lenders to operate as BBPOUs and added
that interested parties can approach the RBI starting the first quarter of 2015
with applications for authorisation.
Among the conditions
laid down for BBPOUs include a networth of at least Rs 100 crore, domestic
incorporation and a previous experience in bill collection.
The guidelines have
detailed out the process of clearing and settlement, as well as customer
protection and grievance redressal.
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