UPI auto pay facility: A step-by-step guide

We often use auto pay options for mobile bill payment, DTH or OTT payment or even for credit card of mutual fund payment. But these auto-pay facilities are processed directly from our bank account. Sometimes they don’t work properly for multiple reasons. To eliminate these obstacles National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) introduced auto pay facility through UPI channel. One can easily pay all the recurring payment through any UPI channel.

Basic idea

Customers can now enable periodic e-mandates using any UPI application for recurring payments such as mobile phone bills, power bills, even EMI payment of loans, entertainment/OTT subscriptions, insurance, and mutual funds, among other things, thanks to this new feature offered under UPI 2.0.

You don’t need to do this through the bank accounts; your UPI id or account can do it every month without any error.

Benefits

All EMI payments such as loans, insurance, mutual funds etc. can be made via UPI auto pay without missing due dates or setting reminders. Payments will be made before time which avoids late fees and penalties.

In UPI recurring mandates, each customer can choose from a variety of payment modes like monthly, quarterly, half yearly etc. and the required amount is up to Rs 2,000. Recurring payments are made in a secure and convenient manner.

Who can use?

Any person who has a UPI id and app can do this within a minute. Basically, UPI account is linked with a single or multiple bank accounts and the amount would be debited from the bank account. But you don’t have to do it through the banking interface, you are just using the UPI interface.

How does it work?

A ‘mandate’ option will be available in any UPI-enabled application, allowing customers to establish, approve, alter, stop, or revoke an auto-debit mandate.

Authenticate your account with a UPI PIN once, and subsequent monthly payments will be automatically debited from your account if your monthly amount is less than or equal to Rs 2,000.

For auto payment up to the amount of Rs 2,000, you have to create an e-mandate using a UPI-enabled bank ID or a QR scan and every mandate will be processed after UPI PIN authentication.

Eligible apps

Apps such as BHIM, Paytm and IndusInd Bank official app are eligible for UPI auto pay. No other app is eligible till now as per NPCI statement.

Eligible aggregators

Almost half-a-dozen payment aggregators or platforms are eligible for UPI auto pay mandate. You can start this auto pay facility by using anyone of these aggregators. The platforms are Razorpay, Paytm, Cams Pay, PayU, Bill Desk, PayG and Digio.

Commercial banks

More than 25 banks are live with UPI auto pay facility. If you have account with any of these banks and have a UPI ID then you can avail of this facility.

Among the large commercial banks almost all banks are in the list. They are SBI, PNB, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, IDFC FIRST Bank, Yes Bank, Federal Bank, IDBI Bank, HSBC, Punjab and Sind Bank, Karur Vysya Bank and RBL.

Other banks

Three payments banks — namely Paytm Payments Bank, NSDL Payments Bank and Jio Payments Bank — are also in the list.

A few small finance banks and cooperative banks are also on the list. They are Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, North East Small Finance Bank, Suryoday Small Finance Bank and Shivalik Small Finance Bank.

Saraswat Co-operative Bank and Thane Janta Sahakari Bank also have a place on the UPI auto pay list.