Can a shop charge extra on a bill payment?

Say a customer hands you an electricity bill and the exact cash. You spend some minutes finding the biller, entering the details and printing the receipt. It’s natural to wonder: can I add something for my time?

It’s a fair question, and the honest answer is “not until you’ve seen it in writing”. This post explains why, and what to ask for.

First, a word on “provider”. Here it means the company whose BBPS account you collect bills under. If that’s SiOnline, send the questions below to SiOnline support. If it’s someone else, send them there.

Three questions hiding in one

“Can I charge extra?” sounds like one question. It’s really three, and each has its own answer.

• May a shop charge a customer for taking a bill payment to a biller?
• May a shop charge more than the amount on a mobile or DTH recharge?
• If a charge is allowed at all, who sets the amount, and how must it be shown?

A rule you find for one of these should not be carried over to the others.

Is SiOnline’s IRCTC charge a guide for bills?

No. On SiOnline’s current IRCTC agent charge page, ticketing is the service with a fixed charge that an agent collects from the customer. It’s ₹40 per PNR for AC classes and ₹20 per PNR for non-AC classes. It’s per PNR, not per passenger, and it’s printed on the ticket (as of 17 October 2026). The page says agents cannot charge anything beyond that fixed amount. Payment-gateway charges: being confirmed with IRCTC.

That rule covers railway tickets only. It says nothing about bills or recharges. So don’t take the logic of the per-PNR charge and apply it to a bill payment. You’d be creating a rule that nobody has written.

What do the sources say about bill payment?

Two public sources matter here, and RBI’s isn’t the one that answers the question.

RBI. The Bharat Bill Payment System Directions, 2024 are dated 29 February 2024 and apply from 1 April 2024. As of 17 October 2026, the word “fee” does not appear in the text. The Directions do list “recovery of charges / commissions pertaining to bill payment transactions” among the entries allowed in the escrow account. That’s the bank account an operating unit keeps to hold bill-payment money. So charges and commissions exist somewhere in the framework. But the Directions don’t say who bears them or what an agent may collect.

The operator. RBI’s Directions say NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), operates BBPS and sets its operational, technical and business standards. A limit on a customer convenience fee, if there is one, is set in NPCI’s own BBPS guidelines, not in RBI’s Directions. This page could not open those guidelines, so it quotes no clause and no amount.

The Directions also describe an agent institution as an entity certified by NBBL that gives customers a physical or digital way to pay bills. They make a Customer Operating Unit responsible for its agent institutions, under the agreement between them. What that agreement lets a shop charge isn’t in the Directions. Which entity your account sits under is a question for your provider.

So RBI’s text leaves the amount open. Until the provider names the clause that allows a charge, don’t set a figure of your own.

Can a retailer charge more than the recharge amount?

That depends on whether your recharge runs on BBPS.

RBI’s Directions define a bill to include “notice or advice for recharge of prepaid services”. When a recharge is processed as a BBPS transaction, the same framework applies, and the fee question is the one above. The Directions don’t say that a recharge runs on BBPS, so ask your provider whether yours does.

For a recharge that’s outside BBPS, nothing in RBI’s Directions sets what a retailer may charge above the recharge amount. Telecom regulation and consumer law fall outside this guide, and they may apply. Silence in one source is not a rule that says anything goes. It’s also not a rule that says nothing may be added.

In practice, take the careful reading. Treat the recharge amount as the amount the customer pays, unless your provider tells you in writing that something more is allowed and how it has to be shown.

What should you ask your provider in writing?

Send these questions by email or WhatsApp, and keep the answers. A spoken answer doesn’t help anyone in a dispute.

If the provider says nothing may be added, you have your answer. If it names an amount and a method, copy that exactly into the notebook where you keep your records.

If a charge is allowed, how should you show it?

Only follow these habits after you have written confirmation.

1. Put the charge on a board where customers can see it from the counter, with the amount and the service it applies to.
2. Say it before the transaction starts. A customer should hear it before handing over money, not at the end.
3. Keep it separate from the bill. The bill amount is what the biller asked for. Your charge is a different line.
4. Show it on the receipt, or write it on your copy of the receipt if the system doesn’t print it.
5. Don’t round up. On a small bill, rounding can end up being the biggest part of what the customer pays.

A made-up example

Say a customer pays a small bill, and you’re thinking of adding “a little something” because the amount is low. Your provider hasn’t said anything about charges either way.

Slow down. No answer isn’t a yes. The provider hasn’t said no, but it hasn’t said yes. Ask the questions in the table. If the reply names an amount and a way to show it, follow it exactly. If the reply says nothing may be added, you’ve saved yourself a dispute. And in the meantime, the customer pays the bill amount only.

What do you say to a customer who asks?

Sooner or later a customer asks, “Why are you charging me extra?” or “Why aren’t you?” Either way, you want an answer you can stand behind.

If you haven’t charged anything, say so. “The bill is ₹X and that’s what you’re paying.” Nothing more is needed.

If your provider has confirmed in writing that a charge is allowed, tell the customer the amount and what it’s for, show the board, and point to the receipt. If they’re unhappy, you can show them the written answer you hold. That’s much better than saying “everyone does it”.

If you don’t know yet, say that too: “I’m checking what’s allowed on this service.” It’s honest, and it keeps you from saying something you’d have to take back.

Keep a simple record

You don’t need anything fancy. A notebook, or a WhatsApp chat saved with the provider, will do. Note the date you asked, the exact questions, and who answered. Copy the provider’s wording exactly as it was written. If the answer changes later, add the new date and the new wording under the old one, and don’t overwrite it. Keeping both shows when the rule changed.

Why bother? Because a customer or the provider itself may ask you, months from now, on what basis you charged. With a record, you can answer in a minute. Without one, you’d be trying to remember a phone call.

Mistakes to avoid

• Copying the shop next door. That shop may have a different provider, or a different answer.
• Carrying the IRCTC rule across. The fixed per-PNR charge is for tickets. Using its logic for bills makes up a rule.
• Taking silence as permission. A provider who hasn’t said no hasn’t said yes.
• Quoting a figure you can’t source. If a customer asks where the charge comes from, you need a document to point to.
• Hiding the charge inside the amount. A customer who finds out later feels cheated, whatever the rule turns out to be.

Questions agents ask

Can a retailer charge extra for bill payment? RBI’s Directions contain no customer fee rule for BBPS bill payments (as of 17 October 2026). Whether and how a shop may collect one depends on the provider’s terms and NPCI’s guidelines, so ask the provider to point to the clause in writing before you add anything.

Is it legal to charge over the recharge amount? A lawyer can answer that for your case. RBI’s Directions set no such rule, but other law and your provider’s terms may apply. Until you have a written answer, collect only the recharge amount.

What is a convenience charge on a bill payment? RBI’s Directions don’t define the term and never use the word “fee”. Ask your provider what it means for your account, which clause of NPCI’s BBPS guidelines sets the limit, and who sets the amount.

What if my provider doesn’t reply? Ask again, in writing, and collect only the bill amount in the meantime. A missing reply isn’t a yes. If SiOnline is your provider, support takes calls and WhatsApp 24 hours, 7 days.

Next step

If you collect bills through SiOnline, send the questions in the table to SiOnline support, which takes calls and WhatsApp 24 hours, 7 days (as of 17 October 2026). SiOnline’s pricing page lists its own registration charges and does not say what a shop may charge a customer. For the recharge service, see recharge for agents.

Sources and checks

• Reserve Bank of India, Master Direction: Bharat Bill Payment System Directions, 2024, dated 29 February 2024, retrieved 17 October 2026.
• SiOnline, current IRCTC agent charge page, read on 17 October 2026.

Facts on this page were last checked on 17 October 2026. Fees and rules change; confirm them with your provider before you act.