RBI panel moots single platform for bill payments

May 8, 2013,Mumbai:-









The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee on payment systems, chaired by executive director G Padmanabhan, has proposed to set up a single platform for all direct bill payments.



Currently, direct bill payments are limited to only some utility providers and lack interoperability, customer convenience and access to electronic payment modes.



The proposed Indian Bill Payment System aims to bring all banks, billers and customers on one platform through the GIRO – short for government internal revenue order – system.



The GIRO model will enable payment of dues such as insurance premia, utility payments, taxes, university fees, school fees, examination fees, etc.



A GIRO is a payment instruction from one bank account to another bank account, which is initiated by the payer.



According to RBI, over 30.8 billion bills are generated each year in the top 20 cities in the country. While cash and cheque collections constitute over 90% of the transactions, electronic payments continue to be low.



"The model will enable the setting up of a centralized infrastructure bringing all the billers and banks to the bill platform through aggregators," said RBI.



The apex bank said the model will also allow interoperability in the bill payment process.



In a GIRO payment, up to three banks – collecting bank, payer bank and the payee bank – may be involved and the customers can access the payment channel through any available outlet.



The committee has suggested setting up a separate organisation to operate and manage it on commercial lines.



RBI has sought comments on the committee's report by June 15.
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com