The value of bills paid through Bharat Connect has surged three times over the past year, as most credit card bills were settled through the platform after a regulatory diktat.
From around Rs 10,000 crore in May 2024, the value of credit card bill payments crossed Rs 80,000 crore this May. The total credit card spending in the country is around Rs 1.8 lakh crore a month, indicating that 45 percent of all credit card bills were settled on the platform.
Customers can settle their bills using third-party apps such as PhonePe, Paytm, or Google Pay, but these are a bridge to the Bharat Connect platform at the backend, which connects to all the utility billers in the country.
The total value of transactions on the Bharat Connect platform grew to Rs 1.25 lakh crore during May 2025, compared with Rs 43,000 crore recorded during the same month of last year.
Bharat Connect platform recorded 258 million transactions in May, a 66 percent growth over the 156 million bill payments done in the month-ago period.
Role of Bharat Connect
Bharat Connect platform was established by the Reserve Bank of India to digitise and bring all utility billers under a single platform. It was earlier known as Bharat Bill Payment System and went live in 2017.
Before BBPS came, consumer payment apps were linking independently with utility billers such as telecom companies and electricity boards to digitise and facilitate bill payments on their apps.
Electricity, credit cards, FasTag and loan repayments are the most popular bill payments on the platform by volume and value.
Since July last year, the central bank has made it mandatory for all credit card bill payments to be routed through the Bharat Connect. However, this does not affect settlements made through banking channels (bank websites or apps) or standing instructions (SI) for automatic deductions. This resulted in a sudden spurt in bill payment value through Bharat Connect, as credit card bills' average value tends to be much higher than other bills.
NBBL’s revenue grows 67% in FY 25
NPCI Bharat Billpay Ltd (NBBL) runs Bharat Connect platform. The company aggregates utility bill payments online, connecting all the billers and customers on third-party payment apps.
In FY25, NBBL reported an operating income of Rs 144 crore, a growth of 67 percent over the previous year. However, the company’s net profit declined to Rs 27 crore from Rs 24 crore in FY 24.
NBBL is a subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the popular mobile payments platform, Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
NPCI is owned by a consortium of banks and also acts as the settlement house for IMPS, NACH and Aadhaar-based AePS.
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