Corporate Bill Pay Module – The need of the hour

Bull's eye: All corporates paying more than 100 Utility Bills every month, subscribe to a ‘Corporate Bill Pay Module’, for payment to any BBPS enabled Biller.

The keyword is BBPS enabled Biller and Payments.

This post is not about ‘Collection’. This post is about ‘Payment’.

Utility Bills are

01) Electricity Bills

02) Water Bills

03) Landline Bills

04) Taxes

Or, any Biller on the BBPS Platform.

The corporate can choose to pay to any Biller on the BBPS as per their internal policies.

Why ‘Corporate Bill Payment Module’?

01) Eliminate the need to manually track the bills across locations spread across geographical boundaries.

02) Efficient management of cash flows. The Bills can be paid just 2 days before the Due Date

03) Visibility of all Utility Bills in a single window

04) Corporates can analyze the bill payments pattern, and take steps to bring down the expenses

05) On successful payment of a few bills, the whole process can be automated with minimal human intervention

06) Alternate sources of data for corporate analysis by Banks or Finance companies

07) As payment is made to BBPS Billers only, no fear of fraudulent payments

 

‘Corporate Bill Payment Module’ can be part of Banks Corporate Net Banking Portal or the specialized Cash Management Services Portal or both.

Features of ‘Corporate Bill Payment Module’

A)     Set Limit for Main Bank Account

B)     To be able to set up Multiple Virtual Accounts

C)     API To ‘Fetch Bills’, from the BBPS Server

D)    Ability to differentiate between ‘Bill Date’, and ‘Bill Due Date’.

E)     Alerts facility in case bills are not settled at Bill Due Date Less 2 Days

F)      Holiday Marking

G)    Analytics  

 

Virtual Accounts

The concept of Virtual Accounts is very common in Cash Management Module. The same concept can be adopted for the bank accounts tagged to CBPM

Virtual accounts are a set of off-balance transaction accounts linked to a physical bank account, used for improved reconciliation.

Virtual accounts reduce the need for multiple bank accounts and associated risks.

Eg: Main Account Nomenclature – Corporate Bill Payment Account

Virtual Accounts can be numerous, such

·         Electricity Bill Payment Account

·         Water Bill Payment

·         Landline Bill Payment Account

·         Municipal Taxes Payment Account

·         Miscellaneous Payment Account

Narration in the Main Bank Account – The narration should be crisp and easy to reconcile.

·         Sample Narration in Main Bank Account – EBPA (stands for Electricity Bill Payment Account / CC (Cost Centre) / Biller Name / Bill Number

·         Sample Narration in the Virtual Account – CC Number / CC Name / Biller Name / Bill Number / Bill Due Date

MIS Reports be configured as per the corporate requirements.

The access to each virtual account be provided on the corporates internal policies.

 

Ease of Implementation: Medium Level

So, corporate out there, please ask your Bank Relationship Manager for ‘Corporate Bill Payment Module’.

 

References:

01) Oracle ® FLEXCUBE Universal Banking Utility Payments User Guide @ https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E86273_01/html/Utility_Payments/UP05-Bill_Payment.htm

02) #EnKashUtilityCard

 

Sri Chaitanya Schools with 500+ Schools onboards BBPS

            In a major boost to BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System), Shri Chaitanya Schools Group stated onboarding it schools on to the BBPS.

SCS started its journey in 1986 and over the last 25 years has grown into a chain of 507 schools, spread over 8 states.

5,50,000+ students pursue their education at SCS.

This means now these 5,50,000 students can pay their school fees via BBPs, 24*7, 365 days a year.

As more and more parents (11,40,000+) experience the Joy of BBPS, they will be encouraged to pay their Utility Bills and other Bills via BBPS. This will add to the BBPS Volumes.

Other possibilities in the near future:

·         SCS 500+ branches pay their Utility Bills via BBPS only. A corporate ‘Bill Pay Module’, will enable SCS Admin Team to achieve this.

·         SCS 27,000+ staff will pay all their Bills via BBPS only.

·         SCS management will share it’s BBPS experience with their peers and guide them for seamless onboarding to BBPS.

SCS Management has taken the first step in the BBPS journey and now it all depends on AXIS Bank on how they guide SCS Management to make the best use of BBPS.

SCS students can pay their Tuition Fees and Bus Fees right now via BBPS

Let me close with this Quote:

What the outstanding person does, others will try to do. The standards such people create will be followed by the whole world.

—The Bhagavad Gita

Source: http://www.inspiration.rightattitudes.com/authors/the-bhagavad-gita/

 

 

BBPS Average Transaction Value crosses INR 2000/- on 20/07/2020

BBPS Average Transaction Value crosses INR 2000/- on 20/07/2020

 Nothing to add more, the BBPS volumes say it all

 

Which bank will be the first to pay its Utility Bills via BBPS?

I often wonder as to how banks pay their utility bills. The old-fashioned way i.e Demand Drafts or the new-fashioned way i.e BBPS.

On an average every day BBPS sees 5 lac transactions on its platform. With 250+ Billers on BBPS, BBPS is fast becoming India’s favourite channel for bill payments.

Now is the time for Banks too onboard BBPS for payment of their Utility Bills.

BBPS will get a major boost if all the Banks in India decide to pay their Utility Bills especially Electricity Bills via BBPS mode only.

This will be a major enabler for corporates all over India to pay their utility bills via BBPS. This will convince corporates to quickly adopt BBPS Payment Mode for their utility bills too.

Banks need to pay Electricity Bill, Water Bill, Landline Bill, of physical branches and administrative offices. Of course, water charges can be part of the monthly maintenance amount paid above the rent to the landlord.

As per RBI data base, as on 31^st March 2020, there are 1,56,329 Commercial Bank Branches functioning all over India. This number includes administrative offices as well as normal branches

Administrative Offices -    6,352

Branches                  - 1,49,977

--------------------

Total                          - 1,56,329

Co-operative Banks are not part of the above numbers. Of course, they too can pay utility bills via BBPS. Nothing stops them.

In simple terms, Commercial Banks pay 1,50, 000/+ Electricity Bills and a lesser number of water bills.

The number of landline bills is more as physical offices may have more than 1 landline.

Commercial Banks can remit the Utility Bills via their own Net Banking portal or tie up with any other bank if required. Regional Rural Banks can tie-up with their sponsor banks.

I look forward to a similar statement in the Banks Annual Reports.

 “We are proud to announce that 85% + utility bills of the Bank are paid through the BBPS mode only.

Further we have onboarded ____ + corporates to the BBPS Payment mode”

After all, 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating'

Q: Will it be difficult for banks to pay all their utility bills via BBPS

Ans: No, it will not be difficult. It requires one-time effort to set up the process, i.e

·         define the process flow,

·         set up internal accounts,

·         provide transaction rights for the identified bank staff

·         Tag the respective biller details

·         lay down audit activities

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

eChallan - One Nation One Challan. Please onboard BBPS AsaP

 

Semi Inspiration 01) My LinkedIn Article dt. February 13, 2016 @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inr1000-crores-market-innovations-traffic-violation-fines-nayakanti INR1,000 crores market – Innovations in Traffic Violation Fines collections in India

Semi Inspiration 02) This scrolling on: https://echallan.parivahan.gov.in/

Important Notice: We have come across a fake website https://echallanparivahan.in which is being used to misguide common citizen and fraudulently collect online payment for fake traffic violation cases. The site has a similar URL and look and feel as our own portal https://echallan.parivahan.gov.in. You are request to take further preventive action, wide circulation and if possible, filing of FIR.

 

So how do you pay a Traffic Fine Challan (eChallan).

The old-fashioned way i.e Cash

The new-fashioned way i.e Card/Net Banking

OR

Would you a completely new way i.e BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment Service)

Wait, eChallan is yet to onboard BBPS.

Integration of eChallan with BBPS will be a boon to pay the Traffic Fine violations.

This will reduce the tensions of fine payers and the respective State Traffic personnel.

Fetch n Pay is the best option. Each Traffic Fine Challan contains a Unique Identifier Number, which can be inputted in the input screen to retrieve the Challan.

Nothing else would be required. Individual States need not worry about any IT integration from their sides.

One major Benefit - No fear of payment of eChallan on fake portals.

Prior to eChallan rollout, different States have different mechanisms to collect the traffic fine challans.

The introduction of eChallan changed all that.

            20 States in India have onboarded eChallan to issue and collect traffic fines via eChallan Module. The tagline of eChallan is “One Nation One Challan”.

            The traffic rules violator has multiple payment options to pay the his/her traffic fine.            

            As per July 2019 updates, eChallan system has been implemented so far include Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Puducherry.

If you have violated traffic rule knowingly or unknowingly, you can check the traffic challan online and make payment. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India has initiated online solution for E-challan- Digital Traffic/Transport Enforcement.

Normally the e-challan notice is sent by SMS to mobile phone of the person. The notice in physical format may also be served at the registered address.

The challan status can be checked online to pay the amount. In case of non-compliance of the e-challan notice it may get forwarded to the court.

            Vahan ‐ The Integrated Solution for Vehicle Registration

VAHAN is a highly flexible and comprehensive system that takes care of all the burdensome activities of Vehicle Registration, leaving the Transport Department to deal with more important business issues.

The software enables the processes at RTO/DTO/MLO/SDM involving Vehicle Registration, Fitness, Taxes, Permits & Enforcement to get computerized.

The State Transport Department is governed by both Central Motor Vehicle Regulation (CMVR) and state specific Motor Vehicle Regulation (State MVR).

Consequently, Vahan was conceptualized as a product that would capture the functionalities as mandated by CMVR as well as state MVRs.

Generally, you need to pay the challan within 60 days from the date of issue of the notice. Any non-compliance of the e-challan notices may result in the challan getting forwarded to the court

Vehicles owners can visit the online portal and check if a challan has been issued in concern to their vehicle. They simply have to fill in their respective vehicle registration numbers and then pay the fine by filling the e-form supplied.

The system is integrated across the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) with the help of the Vahan and Sarthi databases

References:

A)     E-Challan - Digital Traffic/Transport Enforcement Solution. An Initiative of MoRTH, Government of India

B)     Goa: Cyber crooks run fraudulent e-challan website to collect fine for traffic violations

C)     E- Challan: Check Traffic Challan Status and Pay Fines Online

D)     Have you violated traffic rule? Here's how to check and pay your e-challan online