Now, you can issue mandate under UPI for regular bills

MUMBAI: Account holders will be able to give standing instructions to enable recurring payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform. The RBI has allowed payments processors to debit accounts through UPI based on a mandate provided by the customer. This facility would be available for payments of up to Rs 2,000 only.
In a communication to the National Payments Corporation of India, the RBI said that the facility that the central bank had allowed for processing of e-mandate on cards for recurring transactions without second-factor authentication by the customer for subsequent payments would be extended to UPI.What this means is that the customer has to one-time authenticate his account through a one-time password or a PIN, and subsequent monthly payments would be debited automatically.
"Keeping in view the changing payment needs and the requirement to balance the safety and security of card transactions with customer convenience, it has been decided to permit processing of e-mandate for recurring transactions (merchant payments)," the RBI said.
Earlier, this facility was available for debit, credit and prepaid cards only. The move will push digitisation and reduce the need for cards issued by payments networks. According to bankers, merchants and utility companies will find it beneficial to ask customers to provide a mandate through UPI as government has banned any merchant fee on UPI.