NewKerala.com

Postal Life Insurance Joins Bharat Connect, Eases Premiums for 1.25 Crore

NPCI Bharat BillPay has onboarded Postal Life Insurance as a biller on the Bharat Connect platform, enabling over 1.25 crore policyholders to pay premiums through digital and offline channels. State Bank of India acted as the Biller Operating Unit to facilitate the integration for both PLI and Rural Postal Life Insurance customers. The move expands Bharat Connect's insurance category to 65 billers, reflecting a significant shift toward digital premium payments in India. The platform, now with over 22,640 billers, is accessible through more than 700 apps and a vast network of offline agents.

Key Points: PLI Onboards Bharat Connect for Digital Premium Payments

  • 1.25 crore PLI policyholders gain digital payment access
  • Integration facilitated by State Bank of India
  • Bharat Connect now has 65 insurance billers
  • Platform accessible via 700+ apps and 5 lakh+ agents
2 min read

PLI onboarded on Bharat Connect; digital premium payments expand to over 1.25 crore policyholders

Over 1.25 crore Postal Life Insurance policyholders can now pay premiums digitally via Bharat Connect, marking a key step in India's digital finance expansion.

"strengthening the digital payments infrastructure for essential financial services - SBI"

Mumbai, April 21

NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited has onboarded Postal Life Insurance as a biller under the insurance category on the Bharat Connect platform, enabling over 1.25 crore policyholders to pay premiums through digital and offline channels.

A biller is a service provider (like an insurer or utility) integrated into the platform to receive payments, acting as a secure, centralized digital repository for real-time bill fetching and payment settlement.

State Bank of India (SBI), acting as the Biller Operating Unit (BOU), facilitated the integration, allowing PLI and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) customers to make renewal premium payments via Bharat Connect-enabled apps, websites, and agent networks.

PLI, operated by the Department of Posts, services more than 1.25 crore active policies and processes around 2.5 lakh transactions daily.

With this addition, Bharat Connect's insurance category now includes 65 billers, reflecting the growing shift toward digital premium payments.

Highlighting the significance of the move, Director General of Postal Services Jitendra Gupta said, "The integration of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) with Bharat Connect (BBPS) marks a significant milestone in the Department of Posts' digital transformation journey."

He added that the department "continues to modernize its services while upholding its legacy of trust and reliability."

SBI said the collaboration would strengthen access to digital financial services across geographies. "By bringing PLI onto the Bharat Connect platform, we are strengthening the digital payments infrastructure for essential financial services and helping expand access to convenient, reliable, and recurring premium payment options for millions of policyholders," the bank said.

NBBL Managing Director and CEO Noopur Chaturvedi said the integration would simplify payment processes for users. "With this addition, we aim to simplify premium payment journeys of policyholders nationwide. Bharat Connect has established itself as a trusted and convenient platform for recurring payments," she said.

The Bharat Connect ecosystem has been expanding steadily and now includes over 22,640 billers across more than 29 categories. The platform is accessible through over 700 apps and more than 5 lakh offline agents across the country, underlining its scale in India's digital payments infrastructure.

- ANI

Share this article:

Reader Comments

P
Priya S
Great step for financial inclusion. Many PLI/RPLI policyholders are in rural areas or are older citizens. Having the option to pay through an agent network offline is crucial. Hope they run good awareness campaigns so people know about this new facility.
R
Rohit P
Integration is good, but the real test is user experience. Bharat Connect on some apps can be clunky. Hope the payment process for PLI is smooth and doesn't fail, especially near the due date. Less talk, more seamless execution please.
S
Sarah B
As someone who works in fintech, this is a significant scale play. 1.25 crore policies is a huge user base to bring onto a unified payments interface. Will be interesting to see the transaction volume growth for Bharat Connect.
V
Vikram M
Trust is key with insurance. People have faith in the postal department. Combining that legacy trust with modern digital convenience is a win-win. Hope they also improve their customer service portals alongside payments.
N
Nikhil C
Good news! But what about other services? When will they digitize the process for new policy applications or claims settlement? Premium payment is just one part. The entire journey needs to be online.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

Leave a Comment

Minimum 50 characters 0/50