Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: RBI has come out with a Digital Payments – Emandate Framework, 2026 which seeks to make recurring digital payments simpler, safer and more user-centric by reducing friction while retaining safeguards, marking a shift towards a consent-driven autopay ecosystem.The guidelines mandate a 24-hour pre-debit notification, requiring issuers to inform users in advance about the merchant name, transaction amount, timing and reason for the debit. This advance intimation provides customers a window to review and, if necessary, stop an upcoming transaction before funds are deducted.Under the new framework, customers gain significantly greater control over their mandates, with the ability to modify, pause or cancel instructions at any time. Users can also set a maximum cap for variable recurring payments and opt out either of a specific transaction or the entire mandate, tilting the balance of power away from merchants and towards customers. To ensure security alongside flexibility, any optout request must be validated through an additional factor of authentication such as an OTP. This aims to prevent fraudulent cancellations while allowing legitimate users to quickly manage their mandates.The framework also reduces friction for routine payments by removing the need for repeated authentication for transactions up to Rs 15,000. For essential financial payments such as insurance premiums, mutual fund subscriptions and credit card bill payments, the threshold for transactions without additional authentication has been raised to Rs1 lakh.
