UPI AutoPay

Introduction

• UPI Autopay enables merchants to receive recurring payments using NPCI's UPI as the payment method.
• Using the autopay feature for UPI, your customers can enroll to make automatic payments to the merchants via UPI, by approving the e-mandate with the VPA associated PSP application.
• This feature allows easy and automated payment recollections for merchants, whereas for customers, it saves them from delayed payments leading to discontinued services or late fees for non-timely payments.
• With UPI Autopay, merchants can get UPI autopay enabled for their customers to enroll for automated recurring payments. The amount is debited as per the frequency, i.e., the fixed regular interval, in which the recurring payments are pre-configured as per the merchant’s discretion. The customer agrees to the interval, amount, and approves the mandate creation as per the set inputs, by authenticating the mandate request.

Process Flow

Mandate Creation

This is a merchant-initiated call for the creation of a mandate request, leading to mandate registration at NPCI post customer authorization on the VPA-associated PSP app. Below is the process of mandate registration:

1. Customer initiates the checkout process from the merchant website.
   • Merchant displays UPI Autopay option to the consumer.
   • Consumer selects UPI Autopay option and provides input of the VPA, selects frequency, and adjusts the validity period.
   • Merchant initiates the Create Mandate request API to NDPS.
   • NDPS validates the API request parameters.
2. Once validation is successfully done, NDPS triggers the request to the Sponsor Bank.
   • Bank validates the request and forwards it to NPCI.
   • NPCI validates the request and forwards it to the Issuing Bank/PSP App of the customer.
3. Customer receives notification on the Issuing Bank/PSP App to approve the mandate.
4. Authorization:
   • Customer authorizes the creation of the mandate on the PSP app either directly by pressing ‘Approve’ / ‘Confirm’ (if processed within 5 minutes) or by entering PIN (if debit is being processed post 5 minutes of approval).
5. Issuing Bank/PSP validates the mandate and sends the response to NPCI.
6. NPCI validates the response and shares it with the Sponsor Bank.
7. Sponsor Bank provides the response to NDPS.
8. NDPS saves and triggers the response to the merchant.
9. Merchant saves the UMN number against which future executions will be triggered.

Note- All transactions above ₹15,000/- will require the end customer to approve the transaction on the Bank/PSP App for every execution.

Below are the key attributes w.r.t Mandate Creation:

1. Recurrence Value (debitDay), Pattern (frequency) and Rule (debitRule)

   • Frequency: The following are the frequency of payments that can be configured OT, DL, WK, FT, MT, BM, QT, YR, AS, corresponding to ‘one time’, ‘daily’, ‘weekly’, ‘fortnightly’, ‘monthly’, ‘bimonthly’, ‘quarterly’, ‘yearly’ and ‘as presented’.

   • Debit Rule: Recurrence rule defines when debit can be done

     1. It can be ON, Before & After
     2. ON: Recurrence rule mandates the execution of the mandate on the very same day as specified in Debit day parameter
     3. Before / After: Recurrence rules create a span of days between which the payee can execute the mandate
     4. All recurrence rules are limited to a range of values like 1-7, 1-16 or 1-31, so the debit day parameter can only take one of the values from the range based on the rule used. Example - When the ‘weekly’ rule is used with ‘BEFORE’ and the value is ‘5’, the payee can execute the mandate from 1 to 5 (inclusive) for that week. Similarly, if the rule was ‘AFTER’, then allowed execution days would be 5, 6, and 7.
     5. For recurrence patterns ‘Monthly’, ‘Quarterly’, ‘Half-yearly’, and ‘Annually’, when the rule is ‘BEFORE’ and the value is ‘17’, the allowed execution days are 1 to 17th within ‘that month’.
     6. If the frequency is ‘One time’, ‘Daily’, or ‘As presented’, then before/on/after is not applicable.

   • Debit Day - Refer to the table below for the appropriate inputs depending on the frequency:

The debit day for all inputs other than ‘OT, DL, and AS’ can be a specific day, or a range of days that can be after/before the specified day (inclusive of) in the range of the selected frequency, as required.

Depends on the number of days in a certain month, i.e., if the value is not available for that month, then the last day for execution becomes the last available value (e.g., 28, 29, 30 or 13, 14, 15).

2. First Debit

   • For cases where amountLimit = ‘M’ (i.e., maximum), a debit of ₹1 will take place as soon as the end customer approves the Mandate via their PSP application.
   • Whereas, for cases where amountLimit = ‘F’ (i.e., fixed amount), the first execution shall happen either automatically by NDPS (if firstDebit=‘Y’), or the execution will be initiated by the Merchant (if firstDebit= ‘N’).
   • This is a non-refundable amount that will be credited to the first ‘product’ identified in the ‘Create Mandate’ request.

     Note*- First debit is not applicable for ‘OT’ frequency.

3. Revokable - It gives the payer the authority to revoke the mandate.

   • In recurring mandates, it’s mandatory to give the customer the right to revoke the mandate.
   • In One Time Mandates, the merchant may give the option of revoking the mandate to the payer.

4. Block Fund - It gives the payee the authority to block the funds.

   • In recurring mandates, the value is “N” since funds are not blocked.
   • In One Time Mandates, the value is “Y” since funds must be blocked.

5. Amount Rule -

   Amount rule can have either ‘maximum’ or ‘fixed’. Where ‘maximum’ implies that the amount can vary with every execution request.

   • Example: Consider the amount as ₹1200, and the rule value as ‘M’. Then the payee can debit any value up to ₹1200 per debit. But if the value is ‘F’, then the payee can debit only the exact amount, i.e., ₹1200.

6. Validity

   Merchant must establish and declare the start and end date, denoting the validity of the mandate. It is suggested to keep the ‘validityStartDate’ as the date of creation of the mandate.

   Note : For frequency ‘OT’, the validity range is restricted to 30 days within which execution must be done.

7. Collect By Date

   In mandate creation, the merchant must declare the ‘collectByDate’, which indicates the date and time by which the end-user will be able to accept the mandate on their PSP application.

8. UMN

   It’s a unique alphanumeric code that specifies all mandate-related information.

   • UMN format: umn@psp
   • Length of 32 digits should be before @, and the total length of the UMN address can be a maximum of up to 70 digits.
   • Example: 130a977ccabb11e7abc4cec278b6b50a@okicici
   • The end user can view all mandates in the “My Mandates” option of the PSP application.

Mandate Execution

The executions can occur as per one of the below mechanisms

1. NDPS Scheduled:

   • Auto scheduling the executions can be done by posting ‘Y’ for the ‘autoExecute’ parameter. For the same, executions are handled by NDPS and the merchant will not trigger notifications or executions.

2. Pre-requisites: The below must be true at the time of mandate creation:

   • Value in the ‘amountLimit’ parameter must be ‘fixed’.
   • Value in the ‘debitRule’ parameter must be other than ‘OT’ or ‘AS’.
   • Value in the ‘retry’ parameter must always be ‘N’.

3. Process Flow:

   • Merchant initiates mandate creation via ‘Create Mandate API’.
   • Executions are scheduled by NDPS and triggered periodically, depending on the mandate inputs.
   • Merchant may ‘Update’ or ‘Revoke’ the mandate (if required).

4. APIs Triggered via Scheduler:

   • Notification API
   • Execution API

5. Merchant Scheduled On posting ‘N’ for the ‘autoExecute’ parameter, the execution will be initiated from the merchant’s end. In this case, notifications and executions are to be handled by the merchant themselves.

Note : It is mandatory for the merchant to maintain the scheduler at their end to trigger the Notification API (2 days prior to the execution) in case of merchant scheduled executions.

6. Process Flow:

   • Execute Mandate API will be initiated from the merchant to NDPS.
   • NDPS will validate the API request.
   • Post validation, NDPS will trigger the Execution API to the Sponsor Bank.
   • Sponsor Bank will validate the request and provide the response to NDPS post payment authorization.
   • NDPS posts the final response to the merchant.

7. Points to be Noted:

   • ‘mandateSeqNo’ parameter will always have ‘+1’ (ascending) value for each execution.
   • In case of failed execution, if the Execution API is retriggered for the same transaction, the ‘retryCount’ parameter must be posted having ‘+1’ (ascending) value for every retry (given retry = ‘N’ in Create Mandate request).
   • If any particular mandate execution fails, there are a maximum of 9 re-initiation attempts that can be made before the subsequent execution date. But still, even after the 9 re-attempts if the execution fails or the debit day has passed, then that particular transaction will be skipped in the sequence
   • If the first mandate execution itself is failed/missed, the merchant should not execute subsequent executions and the entire mandate stands cancelled. m - ‘merchTxnId’ must be unique for each and every request (create, update, revoke, execute, and notify).

Notification API

It is mandatory to post notification for the upcoming execution to the customer 2 days prior to every execution. For the same, Notification API must be consumed. Not applicable for Auto Scheduled executions.

• Merchant needs to inform the payer before executing the mandate except where mandate execution happens within the same day post mandate creation and wherein the merchant will not be able to send notification prior to 48 hours.
• If the notification doesn’t reach NDPS (e.g., timeout), it’s the liability of the merchant to reinitiate the notification API again until a success response is received.
• The mandate execution will be denied if the Notification API is not triggered prior to execution.
• Notification can only be triggered a maximum of 4 days prior to the execution day.

Update Mandate API

Merchant can update an existing Mandate using Update/Revoke Mandate API.

• Only the ‘Validity End Date’ & the ‘Amount’ of an active Mandate can be modified.
• Payer will be required to authorize the modified mandate by entering UPI PIN on PSP App approval request for the same.
• No change in UMN on modification of the mandate.

Refund API

• Refund option is available on the Merchant Console and will be used to provide refunds.
• Menu for initiating the refund is Refund → Online Channel Refund.
• Refund API can also be consumed for the same.

Callback

Web hook to post the details for transactions with updated status for:

• Mandate Creation
• Mandate Execution
• Mandate Revoke/Update

Transaction Status

Merchant can always fetch the status of the below using Transaction Status API:

• Mandate Creation

• Execution

• Notification

• Revoke / Update

• Refund

  Note : Status can be fetched using either ‘NDPS Transaction ID’ or ‘Merchant Transaction ID’.Status can be fetched using either ‘NDPS Transaction ID’ or ‘Merchant Transaction ID’.

Reports

1. Mandate & Notification Report:

   • Path: Transactions -> Recurring Mandate -> Report Type Selection -> Product Selection -> Bank Selection -> From Date and To Date Selection => Report Download

2. Execution Report:

   • Path: Transactions -> View Transaction -> Product Type selection as ‘UPI Autopay’ -> Search

   Note*- All transactions pertaining to UPI Autopay will thus be fetched in the report.

Do's and Don'ts

Status Codes

1. Mandate Create/Update/Revoke API

2. Mandate Callback API

3. Mandate Notify API

FAQ

1. What payment frequencies are supported?

Choose from a variety of payment frequencies, including one-time, daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, yearly, and as presented.

2. How can I execute a mandate?

Select your preferred execution day or opt for ad hoc transactions based on your needs.

3. What happens if a transaction fails?

If a transaction fails, you can retry it or initiate individual transaction requests.

4. How many bank accounts can be validated for recurring payments?

Support is available for up to five bank accounts for verification of recurring payments.

5. Are mandates executed automatically?

Yes, mandates are executed automatically on your behalf for all frequencies except one-time or as presented.

6. What is required for Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)?

UPI AutoPay requires a UPI PIN for 2FA, whereas debit card or net banking credentials with OTP are needed for E-NACH.

7. What is the maximum duration for creating a mandate?

You can create a mandate for a maximum duration of 30 years.

8. How is customer validation done for single authorization?

A nominal payment of Re. 1/- is used for customer validation, ensuring PIN-less executions.

9. Do I need to capture payments manually?

No, all payments are auto-captured, and reports can be tracked from the merchant console.

10. Can I update the mandate validity and amount?

Yes, you can update the mandate validity and amount easily, although customer approval via UPI PIN is required for the changes to take effect.

11. How can I revoke a mandate?

Mandates can be effortlessly canceled using the API.

12. Which banks and PSP applications are supported?

We support all banks and PSP applications live for UPI AutoPay & ENACH, ensuring a seamless experience for you.

13. What currency is supported for UPI & ENACH payments?

UPI & ENACH payments currently support only INR transactions.