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Infibeam Avenues spurts after RBI nod for Bharat Bill Payment license

December 26, 2022  |  Published by Business Standard

Business Standard Infibeam Avenues jumped 7.14% to Rs 15.75 after the company announced that it has received perpetual license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its bill payments business, BillAvenue.

In an exchange filing, Infibeam Avenues said that it secured perpetual license from the RBI for its bill payments business, BillAvenue, for operating as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

As a BBPOU, BillAvenue operates as both biller and customer operating unit onboarding billers and agent institutions to service the customers.

The perpetual license will help the company to offer safe, secure and uninterrupted services to our 18,000 plus billers, agent institutions and our network of one million agents spread across 2,000 cities and towns of India. It will also help expand into the hinterlands of India.

Vishwas Patel, Infibeam Avenues, Executive Director, said, BillAvenue is a unified, interoperable online bill payment platform, built on the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) Bharat BillPay infrastructure to provide 'anytime, anywhere' bill payment facilities to customers across India through a network of small & medium agents to large Agent Institutions (AI).

BillAvenue services telecom, broadband companies, cable TV, DTH players, electricity distribution companies, LPG & Gas distribution companies, FASTAG, health insurance, life insurance, NBFCs, and municipalities, apart from others, as its clients.

Vishal Mehta, Managing Director of Infibeam Avenues, said, "These are exciting times for Infibeam Avenues as it gallops forward with high growth. A month ago, we received the Payment Aggregator's (PA) license, and now this perpetual renewal of the BBPS license proves our company's credentials, processes and compliances. We are the pioneer in the biller market and have revolutionized it by providing a single window concept for the billers. This extra boost will help us to further enhance our product and services for our customers."

On Thursday, the company received RBI's letter confirming the renewal of a certificate of authorization (CoA) for operating as a BBPOU under the BBBPS on a perpetual basis in accordance with RBI's circular on 'Perpetual validity for certificates of Authorization (CoA) issued to payment system operators (PSOs) under Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

The company said that in 2017, BillAvenue, was among the early non-bank service provider to get an RBI-licensed operating unit license to onboard billers and agents across India. BillAvenue has 90% biller market share within BBPS serving 18,000 plus billers and has more than 1 million agents network spread across 2000 cities & towns in India. It currently processes bills at a run rate of over 100 million bills annually. On an annualised basis, BillAvenue is processing bills worth Rs 120 billion. The bill payments business generates over 40% gross profit margin, the company stated in the press release.

Infibeam Avenues is one of the leading global financial technology (fintech) company offering comprehensive digital payment solutions and enterprise software platforms to businesses and governments across industry verticals. The company's payment infrastructure solution includes acquiring and issuing solutions and offering infrastructure for banks.

The company's consolidated net profit zoomed 119.3% to Rs 40.74 crore on 53.3% surge in net sales to Rs 476.66 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q2 FY22.