Mobile prepaid recharge facility on BBPS by August-end: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday said the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) will be expanded by August 31 this year by adding 'mobile prepaid recharges' as a biller category, a move likely to help millions of prepaid phone subscribers in the country.

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. Before 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.

''With consistent growth in different biller categories and to facilitate mobile prepaid customers with more options to recharge, it has been decided to permit 'mobile prepaid recharges' as a biller category in BBPS, on a voluntary basis,'' the RBI said in a circular.

There were about 1,100 million prepaid phone subscribers in India as on December 2020.

This will be implemented on or before August 31, 2021, it added.

BBPS is an integrated bill payment system that offers interoperable bill payment service to customers online as well as through a network of agents on the ground. The system will provide multiple payment modes and instant confirmation of payment.

BBPS functions under the aegis of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

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