MUMBAI: Net banking is set to big change in a big way with the NPCI Bharat BillPay, an arm of the National Payment Corporation, introducing of a new system designed to make online payments simpler and safer for users.
NPCI Bharat BillPay is targeting 1 billion monthly transactions over the next two-three years, up from 260 million transactions now, and also to reach half of the country's households.
“We do want to reach half of the households and process roughly around three bills per household. That will take us to the 1-billion target monthly bills processed in the next three to four years,” NPCI Bharat BillPay managing director and chief executive Noopur Chaturvedi told reporters here Thursday.
In October, the company crossed 260 million transactions, a 10x growth over the last few years, she added.
She has also announced a new name and identity for the Bharat bill payment system (BBPS), as Banking Connect, which is a unified and interoperable platform for digital bill payments, and was launched during the global fintech summit last month by the Reserve Bank governor Sanjay Malhotra.
She further said the new app is already live with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Yes Bank, Federal Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, as also with payment aggregators such as Infibeam, Payu, Pinelabs, Cashfree, Razorpay, HDFC Bank Smart Gateway, Zoho, Easebuzz, Juspay, Open and SBI ePay, she said.
Launched by the RBI and operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay, a subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation, provides customers a single platform to pay various bills, using multiple payment modes for seamless, secure transactions.
NetBanking 2.0 or the newly revamped app aims for simpler and safer online payments and the new system routes users directly to their banking apps or offers a QR code option, eliminating the need for forgotten IDs and passwords. This mobile-first approach enhances user experience and security through AI and ML-driven fraud detection.
Chaturvedi said the current net banking process often pushes users to a webpage where they must enter an ID and password, which many people forget, causing the payment to drop midway. But the new system removes this friction by taking customers directly to their own banking apps, making the journey more familiar and easier. "The customer gets routed to their own banking apps, and they can complete the transaction in the comfort of a familiar app," she said.
The platform also adds a QR-based option, which uses a dynamic QR code generated during a transaction. Customers can scan it using their bank app to finish the payment. According to her, this design reflects how people have become comfortable with QR-based payments in recent years.
"We have also incorporated a manner in which a dynamic QR gets shown up, and the customer can use their banking app to scan it and complete the payment," she said, adding the entire system is built with a mobile-first approach as smartphone use continues to rise across the country.
On safety, Chaturvedi said fraud prevention is an important aspect for the system from the very beginning. "We attempt to use new technologies like AI and ML to create fraud management systems which can identify and trigger a message to the bank," she said, adding having a central settlement platform makes spotting fraud easier because it provides a clearer view of activity across the ecosystem.
For customers, the immediate change will be the availability of three payment paths: using their bank app, scanning a QR code, or continuing with the existing net banking website if their bank has not yet migrated. She said the aim is to give users a choice while also providing clearer information on grievances, chargeback timelines, and merchant settlements.
"A lot of transparency, standardisation and ease is what everyone in the ecosystem can expect immediately,"Chaturvedi said clarifying that earlier references to cash payments pertained only to bill payment systems and were not linked to the new net banking platform launched today.