The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the deadline for auto-renewal of payments for various payments and subscriptions by another six months. “The Reserve Bank has decided to extend the timeline for the stakeholders to migrate to the framework by six months, that is, till September 30, 2021,” the central bank has said in a media release.

Customers’ e-mandate transactions for bill payments and subscription renewals would have come to an end from April 1. However, the RBI decided to extend the deadline, which was to end on March 31, to September 30, given the large-scale non-compliance and inconvenience to the public.

The central bank has further noted that the non-compliance of the framework beyond the extended timeline would be a serious concern and be dealt with separately. “The delay in implementation by some stakeholders has given rise to a situation of possible large-scale customer inconvenience and default. To prevent any inconvenience to the customers, Reserve Bank has decided to extend the timeline for the stakeholders to migrate to the framework by six months till September 30, 2021,” the RBI has said.

In August 2019, the RBI had issued a framework for processing of e-mandates on recurring online transactions. Initially applicable to cards and wallets, the framework was extended in January 2020 to cover Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions as well. The RBI had added that the primary objective of the framework was to protect customers from fraudulent transactions and enhance customers’ convenience.