Overview

UPI Autopay is an innovative recurring payment framework, introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), designed to support Merchant Initiated Transactions (MITs) using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It allows customers to authorize an enrollment once, enabling future debits to be processed automatically without needing manual approval for each transaction.

This functionality is ideal for subscription-based services like:

• SaaS & digital subscriptions
• Edtech & online learning
• Insurance & mutual funds
• Utilities & telecom

Key Features

UPI Autopay has a set of features that boost recurring patterns:

Feature	Description
Enrollment Creation	Customers can authorize recurring payments via their UPI apps (e.g., Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm) by approving a one-time enrollment request.
Auto Debit Execution	After enrollment approval, merchants can initiate debits as per the enrollment schedule without requiring additional customer input.
Customer Notifications	Customers receive standard pre-debit notifications, as required by NPCI.
Enrollment Lifecycle Management	Includes APIs for suspend, cancel, or modify enrollments as needed.

The Flow

UPI Autopay works by establishing an authorization, achieved through an enrollment process, between merchant and customer, and referencing it in every recurring payment.

This way, the customer's bank can validate the payment against the enrollment and transfer funds without the need for customer interaction, given that they know the payment request has been validated and comes from a valid source.

You will need to follow three main steps:

1. Subscription enrollment: Register the subscription to establish the customer's recurring payment setup.

2. Pre-debit notification: Notify the customer before initiating the payment, as required by Indian regulations.
3. Payment request: Request the actual payment after ensuring the pre-debit notification has been successfully acknowledged.

UPI Caps & Compliance

Please note that specific rules and requirements apply to this payment method. Details are provided in the table below.

Category	Details
Transaction Count Limit	Up to 100 transactions per day per account (as per NPCI guidelines).
Per Transaction Limit	Varies based on the issuing bank’s internal policy. Please refer to the list for bank limits.
2FA (Two-Factor Authentication)	- For debits ≤ ₹15,000: 2FA required only once during enrollment setup. - For debits > ₹15,000: 2FA is required for every debit.