E-mandate on cards for recurring payments' limit hiked to Rs 15,000 per transaction

The limit on recurring e-payments is now raised to Rs 15,000 from Rs 5,000 per transaction to further facilitate transactions such as subscriptions, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday during the announcement of key monetary policy committee (MPC) decisions. 

"To further augment customer convenience and leverage the benefits available under the framework, it is proposed to enhance the limit from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 per recurring payment," Shaktikanta Das, Governor, RBI said.

This means that customers will no longer need to provide one-time password (OTP) on such payments up to Rs 15,000 per transaction.

RBI's move comes after the banking regulator received requests from several stakeholders to increase the limit under the framework to facilitate payments of larger value like subscriptions, insurance premiums, education fee, among others.

Governor Das also announced steps to increase penetration of digital payment system. He said that as per the MPC decision, credit cards, starting with RuPay can now be linked to government's payment platform UPI or Unified Payment Interface.

"UPI has become the most inclusive mode of payment in India with over 26 crore unique users and five crore merchants on the platform. The progress of UPI in recent years has been unparalleled. Many other countries are engaged with us in adopting similar methods in their countries," Das said. 

Meanwhile, the MPC, which met from 6-8 June, announced another hike in key interest rate by 50 basis points to 4.90 per cent as inflation continues to remain above its comfort level.

Das also said that the MPC has unanimously decided to keep the policy stance of ‘withdrawal of accommodation’.