In his statement during the Monetary Policy Meeting on December 5-7, 2022, the RBI Governor announced certain additional measures w.r.t. UPI and BBPS:

  • UPI will be enhanced to introduce single-block-and-multiple-debits functionality. Currently, there is only single debit transactions functionality for a single block in the UPI – customers can only block one debit transaction in their accounts for their choice of payment.  More than 70 lakh autopay mandates are handled every month and more than half of IPO applications are processed using the block feature of UPI.The new feature allows a customer to create a payment mandate against a merchant by blocking funds in his/her bank account for specific purposes which can be debited whenever needed.  It will be helpful for hotel bookings, purchase of securities in the secondary capital market, purchase of government securities using the RBI’s Retail Direct scheme, e-commerce transactions, etc. This will build a higher degree of trust in transactions as merchants will be assured of timely payments, while the funds remain in the customer’s account till the actual delivery of goods or services.
  • The scope of BBPS will be extended to include all categories of payments and collections, both recurring and non-recurring in nature. This should make the platform accessible to a wider set of individuals and businesses who can benefit from the transparent and uniform payments experience, faster access to funds, and improved efficiency.

The industry has wholeheartedly welcomed these enhancements.

Read more: https://www.cnbctv18.com/finance/rbi-mpc-december-2022-shaktikanta-das-bharat-bill-payment-system-upi-details-15350951.htm