Banking Connect Aims For A Billion Monthly Payments As Digital Adoption Deepens

India’s bill-payment system is set for a significant expansion, with NPCI Bharat BillPay (NBBL) mapping out an ambitious future for its upgraded platform, Banking Connect. The organisation, according to a recent Moneycontrol report, is preparing to scale the system to one billion transactions every month within the next two to three years, a target that underscores how firmly digital payments are embedding themselves into everyday life.

For NBBL’s MD and CEO, Noopur Chaturvedi, the projection is rooted in changing household behaviour. She notes that if a substantial share of families begin routing even a handful of their recurring bills through the platform, the volume will naturally accelerate. The long-term aim, she explained, is to make digital payments the default channel for routine monthly obligations.

Building On Strong Tailwinds

The optimism within NBBL comes from the momentum Banking Connect has already captured. The platform, earlier known as the Bharat Bill Payment System, has steadily widened its footprint across banks, apps, and service providers. By October 2025, it had facilitated roughly 260 million transactions in a single month. For a category that was largely fragmented not too long ago, this marks a dramatic shift.

Much of this growth can be traced to the platform’s design. Customers are no longer restricted to the individual website or app of a utility or service provider. Instead, they can pay nearly any bill through the bank or fintech app they already use. The shift has been helped by the fact that people no longer need to hop between different apps or stand in queues to pay routine bills. With the same rules applying across the network and more banks joining in, the idea of settling every monthly payment through one familiar channel has become increasingly attractive.

Why The Ecosystem Is Paying Attention

UPI may continue to dominate the country’s real-time payments story, but recurring bills are a separate, more structured part of the financial system. These are predictable outflows, month after month, and they often account for a sizeable portion of a household’s spending.

By bringing this segment under a centralised setup, NBBL is attempting to streamline historically inconsistent processes. A unified network cuts down on payment errors, makes settlements more transparent, and provides customers with clearer grievance mechanisms. For companies that collect these payments, the system cuts down on back-end hassles and gives them a clearer picture of what has come in and when.

In effect, Banking Connect is gradually evolving into the infrastructure layer that supports the country’s recurring financial commitments — even if it is less visible than other digital tools.

The Next Phase Of Expansion

Industry experts believe NBBL’s billion-transaction milestone is not out of reach. With smartphone usage growing and digital platforms becoming second nature for everything from shopping to banking, bill payments are naturally set to follow. More service categories, including school fees, insurance renewals, and municipal charges, are expected to deepen their presence on the platform in the coming years.

Chaturvedi has indicated that the organisation’s immediate focus will be on strengthening the system’s underlying technology, bringing additional billers onboard, and familiarising households with the ease of a unified payment route.

If the platform does hit its target, it would not simply be a numerical milestone. It would reflect a broader behavioural shift, one where paying household bills through a standardised, digital, nationwide network becomes as routine as using a debit card or UPI. Banking Connect, in that scenario, would sit quietly but firmly at the centre of India’s everyday financial routines.