The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it will allow customers to use Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to make all repetitive bill payments, except prepaid recharges. The initiative is aimed at boosting digital payments in the country. 

“In order to leverage the advantages of the BBPS and harness its full potential, it has been decided to permit all categories of billers (except pre-paid recharges), who provide for recurring bill payments to participate in BBPS on a voluntary basis,” the RBI said in a statement after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting concluded on Wednesday.

The apex bank of the country said that the detailed instructions and guidelines will be issued by the end of September. 

Presently, the payment system is used to make bill payments of- Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, electricity, gas, telecom and water bills. 

The central bank said that other than digitisation of cash-based bill payments, the BBPS payment segments would also benefit from the standardised bill payment for customers, centralised grievance redressal mechanism and prescribed convenience fees. 

The RBI said that to encourage innovation and competition and diversify the risk, the BBPS has decided to offer 'on-tap' authorisation to entities desirous to function/operate/provide for Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) and White Label ATMs (WLAs). 

The on-tap facility will encourage more stakeholders to participate in pan India payment platform. 

Other than this, the RBI also said that the NEFT platform will be available on a 24/7 basis from December 2019. Earlier, the government had decided to waive off all charges on making payments using NEFT and RTGS.