Last Updated on Apr 6, 2021 by Aradhana Gotur
You may have received an SMS or an email from your bank saying that any standing instructions for recurring transactions will not be approved by the bank beginning 1st Apr 2021. Well, this is because of RBI’s new e-mandate guidelines. Note that this is only applicable to new Tickertape subscriptions and not the existing ones. Subscriptions that were started before 1st Apr will continue till 30th Sep 2021.
On 21st Aug 2019, the RBI had issued a circular regarding the registration of new card mandates to make transactions secure and safer. Banks were asked to subject all new e-mandate registrations to Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) effective 1st Apr 2021. We’ll read more about this a bit later.
Since banks are yet to comply with the new e-mandate guidelines, the RBI issued a new circular on 31st Mar 2021, which has extended the timeline till 30th Sep 2021. Until then, new Tickertape Pro subscriptions on our 1 mth plan cannot be started on credit/debit cards. Tickertape Pro also comes in 3, 6 or 12 mth plans where we offer multiple payment options including credit/debit card, UPI, and net banking.
Let us look at RBI’s new e-mandate guidelines.
- AFA is mandatory. It is a process where you, as a cardholder, will receive a request for your card PIN or an OTP before making your first transaction of the recurring payment series and also when modifying or revoking the mandate. The maximum limit for registering mandates is Rs 5,000
- When registering a mandate, banks are directed to provide you with the option to choose either SMS or email as the mode of communication. It is on one of these modes that your bank will send you the pre-debit notification at least 24 hrs before debiting your account with the mandate sum
- While the pre-debit notification would contain all the information about the upcoming debit, it will also give you an option to opt out of the debit or even the mandate
- Banks will also provide you with an online facility to withdraw from an e-mandate at any point in time. For all such mandates, the banks are directed to ensure that the merchants involved should delete all customer payment information
- You will be required to provide a validity period for your e-mandates to make it definite. You can’t have a mandate for an indefinite period
FAQs
Will my existing card e-mandates be impacted?
No, your existing card mandates will not be impacted. Recurring payments relating to such mandates will continue to be processed.
Are Tickertape subscription transactions impacted alone?
No, all new transactions requiring recurring payments are impacted until issuing banks comply with RBI’s new mandate. These include utility bills and OTT bills such as Netflix and Amazon subscription. To continue enjoying such services, you will have to pay your bills as and when they become due directly to the service providers.
