NewNow avail Recharge APIs in addition to bill payments! Learn more

Press Room

Indian consumers can book LPG cylinders digitally on BillAvenue's platform

February 03, 2020  |  Published by IBS Intelligence

Indian digital payments provider Infibeam Avenues Limited (Infibeam) has partnered with public sector energy company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), to allow consumers to book an LPG gas cylinder digitally.

Consumers across 2600 towns and cities in the country can now use the 'PAY AND BOOK' facility on Infibeam's BillAvenue, a unified interoperable online bill payments platform built on the Bharat BillPay (BBP) infrastructure developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). BillAvenue with over 200+ agent institutions serves more than 30 live billers on its platform including Dish TV, Videocon D2H, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and other gas companies namely HPCL, GAIL Gas, Vadodara Gas, Sabarmati Gas, and Unique Central Piped Gases among others.

Vishwas Patel, Executive Director at Infibeam Avenues commented, "We at Infibeam Avenues welcome Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited on-board our BillAvenue platform. The inclusion of BPCL in the rapidly growing biller network of Bharat BillPay will enable its consumers to make seamless bookings and payments for LPG cylinders through multiple online channels and offline customer touchpoints. As a Bharat BillPay operating unit (BBPOU), BillAvenue applies state-of-the-art technological solutions to offer maximum customer convenience and helps generate substantial revenue for its Agent Institutions."

BPCL is among the biggest oil and natural gas companies in India, having a market share amongst public sector oil companies of 23.8%. As per its 2018-19 report, the LPG network of BPCL has 5,907 distributors. Newly added distributors contributed by adding 120 million new LPG consumers, taking the total domestic customer base to 7.83 crores.

"We are happy to introduce Bharat LPG Gas booking on BBPS for the first time in third party aggregation", said A R Ramesh, Chief, BBPS and added that LPG Gas booking is an underserved market as far as digital payments are concerned and would receive a strong digital push by any Bharat BillPay enabled bank or non-bank channels.

T Peethambaran, ED (LPG), BPCL, stated: "At BPCL, we are constantly looking forward to providing our consumers with a smooth and convenient experience while booking their LPG gas cylinders. This venture will ensure hassle-free booking and payment of gas services for millions of BPCL consumers. We are proud to announce our association with BillAvenue, and we seek to leverage the BBPS platform for the benefit of our vast consumer base."