The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorised the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to process non-resident Indians' cross-border inbound payments (NRIs). After the inbound payment process was enabled, NRIs no longer needed to send money to their family members' India-based accounts to pay utility bills in India. They can now pay their utility bills directly through BBPS. It was previously reported that the RBI intended to enable inbound payments.
The RBI announced on Thursday that NRIs will be able to pay utility bills and education fees for their family members in India through the BBPS, a payment portal operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is a joint initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to facilitate digital payments and settlement systems in the country.
Last month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das made an announcement in this regard. "This will enable Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to undertake bill payments for utility, education, and other such payments on behalf of their families in India," he said at the time.
To recap, the BBPS is an interoperable payment and bill payment platform. The system reportedly has over 20,000 billers, accounting for more than 8 crore transactions per month.
