Central Bank of India said in a post on X on 10 September 2026 that it had become the first public-sector bank to launch Bharat Connect for Business with NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. The service handles invoice payments and collections between businesses.
The launch took place at Global Fintech Fest 2026, held from 8 to 11 September at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. Kalyan Kumar, managing director and chief executive of Central Bank of India, and Noopur Chaturvedi, managing director and chief executive of NPCI Bharat BillPay, launched the service, the bank said.
Festival signage in photographs posted by the bank and NPCI identified the service as Central Bank of India’s Cent eeZ Vyapaar Saathi. NPCI said the bank had brought its business payments onto Bharat Connect for Business, expanding the platform across India’s banking network.
NPCI Bharat BillPay describes Bharat Connect for Business as an “interoperable invoice exchange rail” covering the “procure-to-pay and quote-to-cash cycle.” The rail covers ordering, payments, reconciliation and invoice-backed lending.
Buyers can pay through a bank application, enterprise resource planning system or business application, according to NPCI Bharat BillPay. The product also provides automated reminders, real-time payment status and automatic matching of invoices and payments.
NPCI Bharat BillPay is a subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India. It was incorporated on 10 December 2020 and operates Bharat Connect, formerly Bharat BillPay.
Central Bank of India said Cent eeZ Vyapaar Saathi was launched in March 2026 as a corporate net-banking platform for SMEs and corporate clients. The bank said that by July 2026 the platform had onboarded more than 4,000 customers and processed over 150,000 financial transactions worth more than ₹950 crore.
