Frequently Asked Questions on RBI’s directions regarding Recurring payments made with Debit and Credit Cards

In the interest of consumers, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place new safety and security measures for card payments.  This will impact the way in which merchants and service providers can debit you for recurring payments such as monthly / quarterly / annual bill payments for the services you avail.

What is the implication of this for me, as a customer?

As customers, one permits various merchants to auto-charge our credit card / debit card on a recurring basis (monthly / quarterly / annually) for various services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, iTunes, Google, Gaana, Economic Times, Postpaid mobile, Insurance payments, etc.  These recurring payments will not be allowed from 1st April 2021 onwards, without meeting new conditions prescribed by RBI.

What is the state of readiness of the bank and all merchants 

The new conditions prescribed by RBI require a cohesive effort by all stake-holders including Card Issuing banks, Merchant Acquiring Banks, Card Networks and Merchants. All constituents have to complete development, integration and deployment of a COMMON platform which is fully compliant to the RBI guidelines. Such common industry-wide platform has been recently developed and HDFC Bank has completed its internal development and integration. We are now working jointly with merchants for making this live for customers at the earliest. 

I want to continue using the services I subscribed to. What should I do now?

There are three ways in which you may continue to enjoy uninterrupted service:

• Re-Register for each service such as Google, Netflix, Gaana etc (provided they have integrated the new RBI prescribed system), giving permission to the merchant / service provider to charge your card for recurring payments.  This is a One-Time registration which has to be done for each service, on or after 1st April 2021. Check our website on / after 1st Apr’21 to see the list of service providers and merchants that have enabled the new common RBI compliant platform.
• In the interim, until they are not yet live on the new RBI compliant platform, the merchant / service provider may initiate recurring transaction payment requests, either in-app or on-website, or through links, etc., which would have to be approved by you with OTP / other AFA (Alternate Factor of Authentication). Direct charge to card without OTP / other AFA would not be allowed. Alternatively, you may go to the merchant site and initiate a payment yourself, if such an option is available. 
• Alternatively, you can use our Netbanking portal to register for recurring payments under categories like Electricity / Water / Gas / LPG / Landline telephone / Postpaid mobile / DTH / Broadband / Insurance, etc.  
  
  
  After I complete the One-Time registration with a merchant / service provider, how will it help me? Is there anything else that I would need to do every month?
  
  

You will receive a pre-transaction notification from us, 24 hours in advance, informing you of the amount that will be charged to your card, with merchant name. You will also receive a link which will allow you to modify/cancel that payment or the entire mandate, if you wish to do so.  

You just need to ensure while registering, that the amount is not more than Rs 5000/-, which is the maximum permissible limit for recurring merchant transactions as per new guidelines.

Some of my merchants / service providers are not yet ready with the One-Time Registration process. And these payments / services are not available on HDFC Bank Netbanking. What do I do now?

This will depend entirely on the merchant / service provider, whether they are able to collect the amount due by you through alternate modes with OTP / other AFA, or they are able to provide you options to re-register for a longer duration plan such as 3 / 6 / 12 months

I have registered for recurring bill payments on HDFC Bank netbanking, what will happen to that?

There is no impact on BillPay, Auto-Recharge and SmartPay transactions registered on the HDFC Bank NetBanking and other platforms, where view/modification/opt-out facility is already available in NetBanking. The changes are to be implemented only for recurring payments set directly at the merchant platforms.

Are there any charges levied if my recurring payment transaction is declined due to non-compliant process?

The bank will not levy any charges. However, in case the merchant / service provider withdraws their service or levies any charge, the Bank shall not be responsible for the same.

Will the bank levy any charges to customers on the new RBI compliant process?

No, the bank will not levy any charges to customers.


Does this impact Merchant EMI set on Debit / Credit card or one time payments?

There is no impact on EMI transactions, nor on one-time non-recurring payments 

What is the difference in the old process and the new one?