Non-resident Indians (NRIs) will soon be able to make utility, education and other bill payments on behalf of their families in India by using the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday proposed to enable BBPS for cross-border inward bill payments.

"This will enable NRIs to undertake bill payments for utility, education and other such payments on behalf of their families in India," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

BBPS is currently accessible only for residents in India.

By extending this facility to the NRIs, their families, particularly senior citizens, can benefit as they do not have to be burdened with the task of making recurring bill payments. The NRIs can undertake this task on behalf of their families in India. This will also benefit payment of bills of any biller onboarded on the BBPS platform in an interoperable manner,” RBI said in its bi-monthly monetary policy for August.

Besides, the growing usage of the BBPS for this purpose may get additional foreign exchange into the country.

The central bank said it will soon issue necessary instructions in this regard.

The BBPS, owned and operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL), is an interoperable platform for standardised bill payments. 

“Over 20,000 billers have been onboarded on the system and more than eight crore transactions are processed on a monthly basis,” the RBI said.