Aspora, a fintech company supported by Sequoia, which enables the Indian diaspora to send funds to India, is introducing a new function that allows users to pay bills. This update lets non-resident Indians (NRIs) handle utility payments or top up prepaid mobile plans for their families back home.
Previously, the company explained, users either needed to transfer money to their Indian bank accounts or rely on someone else to settle their bills. Alternatively, they could attempt to pay directly with international cards, but this often resulted in high fees and unsuccessful transactions.
Aspora has integrated with the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), which oversees bill payments in India, by utilizing Yes Bank’s domestic network. This connection allows users to pay over 22,000 different billers across India, including electricity companies like BSES and BESCOM, broadband services such as Jio and Airtel, and loan repayments for leading banks.
The company stated that it does not impose any fees for these transactions, and users benefit from competitive exchange rates when paying bills in foreign currencies.
“For countless Indians living abroad, settling bills in India has always been unnecessarily complicated—requiring transfers, waiting periods, and double charges. Aspora has now eliminated this widespread issue with just a tap,” Aspora’s founder and CEO Parth Garg shared with TechCrunch during a recent phone conversation.
Garg noted that while bill payments may slightly decrease remittance volumes, the reduction would only be around 4% to 5% of total transfers. He believes that offering bill payment options will help retain users over the long term.
“Currently, every Neo bank aims to increase transaction frequency on their app. With remittances, users typically accessed the app once or twice monthly. This new bill payment feature changes that. It boosts activity on our platform and encourages users to return more often,” Garg explained.
He mentioned that Aspora has been piloting this feature with several thousand users over the past few weeks, and the feedback has been encouraging. The company observed that mobile top-ups became a significant use case during testing. Since BBPS does not support certain categories, such as mobile recharges or credit card payments for overseas users, Aspora has teamed up with international mobile recharge provider Ding to enable these services.
This feature is currently accessible to customers in the U.K., and the company intends to roll it out soon to users in the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In June, Aspora secured $50 million in Series B funding at a $500 million valuation, with Sequoia leading the round. Additional investors included Greylock, Hummingbird, Quantum Light Ventures, and Y Combinator. To date, the company has raised over $99 million. In July, Aspora expanded its services to NRIs in the U.S., which, according to the country’s central bank, represents the largest source of remittances to India, accounting for nearly 28% of the market.
Aspora now serves 800,000 customers, who have collectively transferred $4 billion and saved $25 million in fees, according to company data.
Looking ahead, Aspora plans to introduce NRE (non-resident external) accounts for managing overseas income and NRO (non-resident ordinary) accounts for handling income earned in India next year.
