Mandate frequencies

NACH Debit mandates can have frequencies ranging from intra-day to yearly, and also ad hoc.

ACH debits can be charged on a mandate according to the mandate's frequency. Mandates can have the following frequencies. Note that the frequency definition is on successful debits only (failed debits do not count).

Occurrence sequence type OOFF (One Off)

• Nil: One single debit can be taken in the life of the mandate.

Occurrence sequence type RCUR (Recurring)

• As and when presented (ADHO): Multiple debits can be taken during any period. All mandate variants. NPCI imposes certain restrictions on usage of this frequency, in relation to the category code.

• Intra-day (INDA): Multiple debits can be taken every business day. eMandate only.

• Daily (DAIL): One debit can be taken every business day. eMandate only.

• Weekly (WEEK): One debit can be taken every seven days. eMandate only.

• Monthly (MNTH): One debit can be taken every calendar month. All mandate variants.

• Bi-monthly (BIMN): Two debits can be taken every calendar month. eMandate only.

• Quarterly (QURT): One debit can be taken every three calendar months. All mandate variants.

• Half yearly (MIAN): One debit can be taken every six months. All mandate variants.

• Yearly (YEAR): One debit can be taken every 12 months. All mandate variants.

LotusPay does not impose minimum frequency interval restrictions on merchants scheduling debits on mandates (if not linked to a LotusPay subscription). NPCI itself does not impose any such restrictions. However, each sponsor bank and destination bank has its own policy on handling debits that fall outside of these intervals.

For example, suppose a customer has authorised a mandate which has a frequency of 'monthly'. Legally, the merchant should only charge this mandate once per month. Technically, however, the merchant can submit debit requests more frequently e.g. daily. Doing so will generally cause the request to fail (unless it is a resubmitted debit request for an earlier failed debit). This is because the customer's bank will see that the debit request is breaching the frequency condition: the merchant is trying to take debits more frequently than the customer has authorised in the mandate.

Therefore, with ad hoc debits, it is the merchant's responsibility to ensure that they are honouring the frequency condition of the mandate.

If you need to charge the customer at irregular intervals, you should ask the customer to authorise a frequency of 'As and when presented'.

If you do not want to handle the complexity of scheduling debits, you can benefit from using LotusPay's subscription and plan logic instead.