Cashfree Payments expands role in India’s bill payments network

By Milan Rojan

Cashfree Payments has received dual certification as both a Biller Operating Unit (BOU) and Customer Operating Unit (COU) on Bharat Connect, expanding its role in India’s unified bill payments ecosystem.

Akash Sinha, CEO and Co-founder of Cashfree Payments, said: “Our dual certification as both a BOU and COU on Bharat Connect reflects our commitment to building payments infrastructure that is deeply embedded in India’s financial ecosystem. These certifications enable us to serve every participant in the Bharat Connect ecosystem under one roof, simplifying payment relationships while supporting compliant and reliable digital payments.”

The certifications, combined with the company’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Payment Aggregator licence, make Cashfree one of a select group of non-bank payment providers capable of supporting both the biller and customer sides of Bharat Connect transactions through a single regulated platform.

Noopur Chaturvedi, Managing Director and CEO of NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited, said the dual certification reflects the growing maturity of participants on the Bharat Connect ecosystem and supports greater operational efficiency and customer experience.

As a certified BOU, Cashfree Payments has enabled organisations across sectors including lending, insurance, education, housing and municipal services to collect recurring payments, EMIs and bill payments through more than 700 digital channels and over 500,000 offline touchpoints. As a COU, the company has also enabled FinTechs, neobanks, lending platforms and super apps to offer bill payment services, including bill fetching, validation, complaints management, automated reconciliation and real-time payment status.

Bharat Connect connects more than 22,000 billers across over 25 payment categories, including utility bills, insurance premiums, education fees, recurring subscriptions and municipal taxes. According to the RBI’s Payments System Report, BBPS transaction value has grown 16-fold over the past four years, reaching approximately $155.1 billion by 2025.

The COU certification has also aligned with revised regulatory requirements that require a COU to act as the payment aggregator for its underlying agent institutions, helping simplify settlement processes, improve data integrity and streamline reconciliation across the BBPS ecosystem.