WHAT IS E-MANDATE?
Every month you pay your utility bills and make investments. Would it be more convenient if the process was automated? Enter the E-Mandate system. It is a facility that issues and confirms mandate by customers through alternate channels.
The mandate will be routed by the destination bank to the sponsor bank or by corporates to the destination bank, through their sponsor bank. “E-Mandate is for payment and collection mechanism. E-Mandate can be set up using debit card and net banking," said Deepak Sharma, chief digital officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To be able to use this facility, your bank needs to go live with the E-Mandate option. According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), there are around 10 banks including Axis Bank Ltd, Yes Bank Ltd and IDFC Bank Ltd that have gone live with E-Mandate through net banking.
Major banks are still under certification and yet to go live. Corporates such as Ezetap Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd, Fortune Integrated Assets Finance Ltd, Fullerton India Credit Co Ltd and Incred Financial Services Pvt Ltd are also live now. To enable E-Mandate on net banking and card, both should go live.
WHAT CAN YOU USE IT FOR?
Only after E-Mandate goes live will you as a customer be able to enable the facility for your bill payments. NPCI has allowed certain merchant categories to use E-Mandate.
“E-commerce is not part of it, but insurance, mutual fund houses, fintech companies and utility service providers can enable it," said Sharma. The purpose of E-Mandate is to facilitate financial payment that has a collection requirement. The NPCI will levy a fee for using the service. While this is convenient, it also means you need to leave enough balance in your account to meet all payment requirements.
