Starting from April 1, your recurring monthly bill payments such as mobile phones, utility bills, subscription charges for OTT streaming services through the auto-debit facility of banks may be affected, reported The Economic Times.

Live TV

Loading...

This new diktat from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will affect Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Tata Power, and BSES. However, the banking regulator had given them time till March 31 to banks, payment card networks, and online vendors to comply with new rules for Two-factor authentication (2FA) for consumers' recurring payments via debit & credit cards.

According to the new norms, reported by The Economic Times, banks, credit card service players have to send a notification to consumers 5 days prior the payment is set to be deducted, and grant the debit only after the consumer mandates the amount.

This new rule is for recurring amounts above Rs 5,000, requiring banks to send a one-time password to customers.

As per IAMAI, millions of customer e-mandates could break down from this Thursday as major lenders didn't take the necessary steps to comply with the central Bank's need to activate registration, tracking, modification, and withdrawal of e-mandates.

But the recurring payments using UPI's AutoPay feature might not get affected.

Previously, India's apex bank said the new system would start from April 1 this year. However, significant lenders and vendors stated that they are not ready for the changeover and wanted more time from RBI, but it had rejected their demands.

So, it's pretty much clear that from April 1, recurring payments via debit or credit cards for many services will tank for sure. Till banks and vendors come up with an alternative solution. Meanwhile, consumers have to visit payment pages of individual merchants to pay bills or continue subscriptions. But, payments through NPCI platforms will not be affected.

The report further said major lenders such as SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and leading card payment firms American Express and Mastercard have started notifying their network partners about their problem to process "standing instructions (SI) or recurring mandate-based payments." Also, those vendors are advising their consumers as well, along with suggesting alternative modes of payment.

(Edited by : Jomy)

First Published:Mar 30, 2021 6:40 PM IST