In recent months, fintech unicorn Razorpay and payment technology giant Mastercard have launched Mandate HQ, a secure interface for recurring payments. This has come after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put out a directive regarding an electronic authorization processing framework for online transactions to promote the secure adoption of digital payments.
RazorPay and Mastercard have developed advanced solutions to facilitate the processing of recurring payments, an area that has emerged blazingly after the central bank’s intervention in such transactions.
What are recurring payments?
The recurring payment is a payment model in which customers allow merchants to periodically and automatically withdraw funds from their accounts for the goods and services they offer. Recurring payments include bills for utility, cell phones, credit cards, hosting fees, Internet Service Provider (ISP) fees, etc.
Recent RBI rules regarding recurring payments
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published a framework for processing electronic payment orders in recurring online transactions. Under the new rules, RBI requires AFA (Additional Factor of Authentication) for all recurring transactions involving debit cards, unified payment interface (UPI), credit cards, or other prepaid payment methods for under Rs 5,000 transactions.
Under the new rules, banks must inform customers in advance that recurring payments are due and complete the transaction after customer approval. This rule may apply to monthly subscription fees for several OTT-streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+Hotstar, among others.
Mandate HQ by Razorpay and Mastercard
MandateHQ is a comprehensive platform that helps banks manage the end-to-end mandate lifecycle of orders, including creating, viewing, updating, cancelling, processing and suspending orders and their depreciation. Mandate HQ is a white label product that allows end-users to view and manage the history of all pending orders and all recurring transactions.
In addition, the Mandate HQ platform helps banks activate 24-hour prepaid email, SMS and WhatsApp notifications and provides the end-user with a portal for managing card authorizations.
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Razorpay’s Mandate HQ is an API-based plug-in solution that cuts commission times for any card-issuing bank that wants to allow its customers to make recurring payments.
The Mandate HQ solution can be fully integrated into any bank in 7 days instead of other solutions that generally take several weeks. In addition to its partnership with Mastercard, ReservePay is also working with three banks and is in talks with more than 20 banks to integrate this technology into their existing payment infrastructure.
Industry estimates – what can others learn?
Industry experts estimate that the total market opportunity for recurring payments in India will be between $280 million and $336 million in the coming years. With the integration of the new subscription-based business model, recurring payments have tripled over the past two years with an annual growth rate of 40%.
Industries such as OTT platforms (primarily regional), advertising technology, food technology, health technology and the economy, in general, are the biggest beneficiaries of this change. In general, customers can have multiple guarantees for different transaction prices. Start-ups and young entrepreneurs entering the industry can work in these areas under the central bank’s guidance to benefit a wide range of customers and thus strengthen their business.
