The Bharat Connect erstwhile Bharat Bill payment system is a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conceptualized system driven by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It is a one-stop ecosystem for payment of all bills providing an interoperable and accessible “Anytime Anywhere” Bill payment service to all customers across India with certainty, reliability and safety of transactions.
Customers routinely pay for utilities, financial services, entertainment subscriptions and health-related expenses, among others. In the past customers and service providers in India faced a lot of hurdles in paying and collecting payments.
Bharat Connect offers technological solutions to bring businesses and customers under one system to facilitate payment collections.
Customers can make payments via physical payment collection outlets (bank branches, agent collection stores, etc.) and digital channels (apps, websites, etc.) across India.
The system facilitates fast settlements, supports multiple payment modes and makes over 21,000 Billers accessible to millions of Customers.
Bharat Connect transactions can be initiated through multiple payment channels like Internet, Internet Banking, Mobile, Mobile-Banking, Mobile Wallets, Kiosks, ATMs, Bank Branches, Agents and Business Correspondents, by just looking at the Bharat Connect logo.
Bharat Connect facilitates myriad payment modes enabling Bill payments. The payment modes options facilitated under the ecosystem are Cards (Credit, Debit and Prepaid), NEFT Internet Banking, UPI, Wallets, Aadhar-based Payments and Cash.
| Interoperable | Bharat Connect is an integrated ecosystem connecting banks and non-banks in bills aggregation business, Billers, payment service providers and retail Bill outlets. |
| Accessible | Facilitate seamless payment of bills through any channel: Digital and physical. |
| Cost-effective | Most cost-effective for entire ecosystem. |
| Integration | OUs will have to connect only to CU to get access to all the billers. Utility companies just need to connect to maximum two OUs to enable all customers to pay bills. |
| Complaint Management | Standardised system to handle customer grievances for both ON-US and OFF-US transactions. |
| Dispute Management | Facilitate OU’s to raise and resolve disputes relating to transactions that have passed through the Bharat Connect ecosystem. |
| Clearing & Settlement | Multiple Clearing & Guaranteed Settlements between different parties, standardised TAT. Fast settlement with 8 cycles in a day. |
| Standardisation | Standardisation of processes for entire Bharat Connect ecosystem. |
| Brand Connect | Single and trusted brand connect, and Bharat Connect Assurance. Secure platform with end-to-end encryption which follows all RBI regulatory compliances. |
Is responsible for setting business standards, rules and procedures for technical and business requirements for all participants. The CU undertakes clearing and settlement activities related to transactions routed through Bharat Connect.
Bharat Connect Operating Unit aka OU is the entity that is authorized by Reserve Bank of India. It can be a Bank or a Non-Bank. OU may choose to integrate either with the customers, (COU: Customer OU) or with the billers (Biller OU) or may wish to participate as both – which means such OU will be integrated with customers as well as billers.
Going forward, only authorised OU - both banks and non-banks authorised by RBI - can handle payment and aggregation of payment services relating to bills under the scope of Bharat Connect.
Eligible Entities who wish to offer or those who are currently in Bill payment, collection and aggregation business, would operate under a COU (Customer OU).
Customer OU will on-board Agent institutions, which may further on-board agents and/ or set up customer service points in various regions and locations.
Agents are the customer touch points and service points in the Bharat Connect ecosystem available in the form of agent outlets, Business Correspondent outlets, Bank branches, collection centres and retail outlets.
Service providers, who shall receive payments from customers for services rendered. By participating in the Bharat Connect scheme, the biller will be able to receive payments from third-party channels for the services provided to the customer. A biller may tie up with up to two Biller OUs to access the entire universe of its consumers and all payment channels.