26 FASTag Issuing Banks – But only 9 on BBPS

Indian highway users can buy FASTag for their vehicles from 25 Banks and 1 Bank Neutral Service Provider i.e. Indian Highways Management Company Ltd.

However, users of only the below 9 FASTag Issuers can recharge their FASTag via BBPS.

01        IndusInd Bank- FASTag     Fastag Recharge

02        Indian Highways Management Company Ltd – FASTag        Fastag Recharge

03        Indusind FASTag     Fastag Recharge

04        ICICI Bank-FASTag   Fastag Recharge

05        Bank of Baroda - Fastag    Fastag Recharge

06        Axis Bank - Fastag   Fastag Recharge

07        HDFC Bank-FASTag Fastag Recharge

08        IDFC FIRST Bank - FasTag  Fastag Recharge

09        Kotak Mahindra Bank-FasTag      Fastag Recharge

All other FASTag users have to choose alternate recharge methods.

I’m waiting for the day when all FASTag issuers onboard BBPS for FASTag recharge.

This will be a golden day in the history of BBPS when 100% of Billers in a respective category are on BBPS

What is stopping the remaining FASTag issuers to onboard BBPS?

List of FASTag Issuing Banks as on 11/08/2020

Sr. No.            Member Banks        Issuer Acquirer

1          Airtel Payments Bank        Yes      -

2          Allahabad Bank                   Yes      -

3          Axis Bank Ltd                       Yes      Yes

4          Bank of Baroda                   Yes      -

5          Canara Bank                         Yes      -

6          City Union Bank Ltd           Yes      -

7          Equitas Small Finance Bank          Yes      -

8          Federal Bank                        Yes      -

9          FINO Payments Bank         Yes      -

10        HDFC Bank                           Yes      Yes

11        ICICI Bank                             Yes      Yes

12        IDBI Bank Ltd.                      Yes      -

13        IDFC FIRST Bank                  Yes      Yes

14        Indusind Bank                     Yes      Yes

15        Karur Vysya Bank                Yes      Yes

16        Kotak Mahindra Bank        Yes      Yes

17        Nagpur Nagarik Sahakari Bank   Yes      -

18        PAYTM Bank                         Yes      Yes

19        Punjab Maharashtra Bank Yes    -

20        Punjab National Bank        Yes      Yes

21        Saraswat Co-operative Bank        Yes      -

22        South Indian Bank              Yes      -

23        State Bank of India Yes      Yes

24        Syndicate Bank                    Yes      -

25        Union Bank of India           Yes      -

26        Yes Bank Ltd                         Yes      -

 

BBPS July 2020 Presenting Interesting Titbits

 

           I’m back with BBPS July 2020 Statistics

Titbit 01) The average transaction was for INR1839/-.

Titbit 02) The month’s highest average transaction was INR 2,272.85 on July 27, 2020 Monday.

Titbit 03) The highest number of transactions i.e 8.51lacs took place July 13, 2020 Monday 

Titbit 04) On an average 6.50lacs bills were paid every day in July 2020

Titbit 05) On 6 days, the average transaction crossed INR2,000/-

Titbit 06) the lowest average transaction i.e INR1,377.98 took place on July 5, 2020 Sunday

Titbit 07) Compared to weekdays, the transactions on weekends i.e Saturday and Sunday are less.

Titbit 08) On 5 days, transactions crossed 8,00,000 per day

Titbit 09) On 4 days, transactions crossed 7,00,000 per day

Titbit 10) on 10 days, transactions crossed 6,00,000 per day

 

August 2020 too seems an actioned packed month for August 2020, what will plenty of billers added during July 2020 and the first transaction for these new billers expected in August 2020/

 

 

 

Amway – Please add BBPS as a payment option

 At some point of time, many of us would have a small connection with Amway.

The connection can be in the form of

01)                     Consumer

02)                     Amway Business Owner

03)                An Enabler  in the Financial Collection chain process

Amway Business Owners have to pay in advance for the products sourced from the company for further sales.

Amway orders can be of Pickup or Home Delivery.

The below are the payment options for Amway Pickup or Home Delivery options.

Courtesy @ https://www.amway.in/shippingAndPickupProcedures

Payment Options for PUC Orders are:

·       Cash, Demand Draft, Credit Card and Debit Card.

Payment options for Home Delivery orders are:

·       Orders placed at Office: Cash, Demand Draft, Debit Card or Credit Card.

·       Orders placed at Call Center by phone: Credit Card and Pay-by-Challan.

·       Orders placed at Website: Credit Card, Debit Card, Net Banking, Paytm, Google Pay, Ebix Cash, Pay-by-Challan.

·       Orders placed at Amway App: Credit Card, Debit Card, Net Banking, Paytm, Google Pay, Ebix Cash, Pay-by-Challan.

The ‘Pay-by-Challan’, is an interesting concept introduced by Amway. Amway has tied up with 3 banks for this process.

The 3 Banks are

01)                     Axis Bank

02)                     ING Vysya Bank

03)                     IDBI Bank

 

Well, the Pay by Challan was introduced before UPI or BBPS came into the picture.

 A Google search for Amway Pay by Challan does not offer much information.

Only a couple of links pop up.

 

One of these links is @ https://www.informative.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Amway-Products-Price-List.pdf This link was uploaded in December 2015.

 Now, with BBPS becoming popular, it is time for Amway to onboard BBPS as a biller.

 BBPS option can be used for both Pick-Up Orders as well as Home Delivery.

The whole process does not require much tweaking of Amway systems.

Few minor tweaks here and there will be enough for Amway to board BBPS.

01)         Amway Seller places the order on any channel.

02)         On successful order placement, an Invoice is generated which contains a unique identification number

03)         The seller logs into any BBPS App, chooses Amway from the Biller List, inputs the unique identification number.

04)         The bill is fetched and displayed, for payment by the Seller.

05)         The successful payment is updated in the Amway Billing System.

See, how simple it is.

 

Tango between UPIAutoPay and BBPS – ‘Pigmy Deposits’ Collection Module for Utility Bills, Loan EMIs

            Semi- Inspiration for this Post – Syndicate Bank Pigmy Deposit Scheme

            Syndicate Bank adopted the concept of Pigmy bank to assist its customers to grow their pot of savings. Over the decade's Syndicate Bank had stupendous success in its PigmyBank Scheme and was adopted by numerous financial institutions across the world.

It was in 1928, that Syndicate Bank introduced the innovative savings scheme 'Pigmy Deposits', to mobilize small savings. This scheme led Syndicate Bank to be known as the `Small Man's Big Bank'.

In simple terms, under the ‘Pigmy Deposits’ Recurring Deposit scheme, Pigmy agents visit the doorsteps of the depositors to collect the daily deposit.

The deposit could be as little as INR5/-.

Quote

As another Mint columnist wrote in a fabulous column titled Before Thaler there was Pai, “The testimonies of some of the pigmy depositors shows this emphatically. One woman fainted upon hearing the amount of saving, another asked Pai not to inform her husband about the savings and yet another built a house using the savings, calling it Pigmy House."

Unquote

The same concept can be adopted to lessen the pain of payment of Utility Bills, Loan EMIs or any biller on the BBPS platform.

The Process flow:

A)     Subscriber opts for the BBPS UPIAutoPay module in his/her APP

B)     Subscriber chooses the BBPS Biller, inputs his/her Biller identification number, inputs the monthly saving amount, daily saving amount, and VPA

C)     Subscriber inputs the payment date i.e Bill Due Date LESS 2 days or 3 days

D)     The UPIAutoPay process kicks in.

E)      The collection process i.e Debit Subscribers Bank’s Account – Credit Subscribers Virtual Collection Account, via UPIAutoPay, takes places on the scheduled days i.e Daily/Bi-Weekly/Weekly etc.

F)      Once the payment is made to the BBPS Biller, the payment receipt be shared to the subscriber.

Mandatory Requirements:

01)  BBPS Biller to accept partial payments.

02)  Dedicated Helpdesk by the BBPS Biller to resolve any issues

03)  Narration – Subscribers Bank Account for the UPIAutoPay transaction ___ BBPS Biller Name / Identification Number / Virtual Account Provider Name

 

Quick FAQs

Q) Who can offer this facility?

Ans: Any RBI recognized PPI Issuer

Q) What should be service charges for this facility?

Ans) Reasonable, say INR 50/- to set up the one Virtual Collection Account. INR10/- maintenance fee + MDR per virtual collection account, per month. Basically, it will depend on the business plan of the offering institution. Reward points can be the sweetener.

Q) Should the subscriber be allowed to break a respective virtual collection account.

Ans) Ideally no, to minimize such thoughts, penalty charges can be levied to break the virtual collection account

There will be teething issues, however over a period of time, as the participants mature, this will benefit the whole ecosystem.

Additional Reading Material

01)  Syndicate Bank relaunches Pigmy collection scheme @ https://www.oneindia.com/2007/03/01/syndicate-bank-relaunches-pigmy-collection-scheme-1174137440.html

02)  UPI 2.0: The digital pigmy @ https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/YtRDoDK913EfV25iIDvTWI/UPI-20-The-digital-pigmy.html

03)  Should UPI (Unified Payments Interface) take lessons from Syndicate Bank’s pigmy deposit scheme? @ https://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/should-upi-unified-payments-interface-take-lessons-from-syndicate-banks-pigmy-deposit-scheme/

04)   

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