Hidden UPI Mandates Lead to Unwanted Debits in India

On the Google Play community page, a user recently shared a similar experience. They said, “I took a Rs 1 trial on Moj app, but Rs 699 was auto-debited without clear consent. I have not used the subscription service at all. Please cancel my subscription and process a full refund immediately.”

Picture this: you get a message on your mobile phone – ‘UPI mandate: Sent Rs 299 from XYZ Bank to ABC Services’. Now, all you are wondering is how did this amount get debited when you didn’t even authourise such a payment. Well, this is what several Indians face every month, without knowing how to even stop this.

While you might not remember making that Rs 299 payment, but go back in time a few weeks and you will realise how you had opted for a ‘free’ 7-day or 30-day trial for just Rs 1 or 2, thereby triggering a silent UPI mandate. It all seems entirely safe, free and a matter of 7 or 30 days, until you get the Rs 299 debit message.

“Hidden UPI mandates impact bank balance by enabling unauthorised. These are often recurring subscriptions to siphon small amounts (like Rs 199) from a user account without getting noticed by the user,” said Sameer Mathur, MD and Founder of Roinet Solution.

And since mostly, there is no need for a UPI PIN for individual transaction, any large losses tend to go un-noticed.

How UPI mandates get activated without you even knowing?

When you opt for the small ‘free’ trial, hidden in the fine print is the UPI mandate that you never saw coming. They get activated via stealth subscriptions when you opt for any free trials that require an active mandate and automatic charging starts once the trial ends.

"UPI mandates have transformed the way consumers manage recurring payments by making everything from subscriptions to utility bills to EMIs and investments more convenient. However, many users remain unaware of the number of active mandates linked to their accounts, which can quietly impact monthly cash flows,” explained Amit Nigam, Executive Director & CEO, FindiBANKIT.

You might have come across several social media ads that ask you to initiate a free 7-day or a 30-day trial for some app or a streaming service for just Rs 1 or 2. But they never clearly disclose that you will be charged the subscription fee each month on authenticating this trial.

Mathur shared that streaming services and apps often use UPI Autopay for renewals or take mandates for very long periods. When a customer forgets to cancel a free trial, accounts are auto-charged creating a drain on the bank balance. It is the accidental approvals that often create repeat debit.

Unwanted UPI mandates and their impact on your bank balance

Think of it like paying for something you are not even aware of, so it is highly unlikely that you are going to account for that in your monthly budget. Not only do you see such UPI autopay mandates, but you also start seeing a constant leak from your bank account every month.

On the Google Play community page, a user recently shared a similar experience. They said, “I took a Rs 1 trial on Moj app, but Rs 699 was auto-debited without clear consent. I have not used the subscription service at all. Please cancel my subscription and process a full refund immediately.”

So, while you are continuously losing money through the UPI autopay, you become exposed to further vulnerabilities if your bank balance is low. Once your bank balance becomes lower than threshold limits, automatic deductions can create overdraft or reduction in credit score.

“If multiple mandates triggers at points of time when the bank balances are low, the transactions will fail and can result in bank penalties as well as negative credit scores,” Mathur underlined. Moreover, certain third-party apps manipulate with deceptive practices towards long-term mandates. Once set up, they offer complicated, multi-step cancellation procedures thereby ensuring subscription.

Recurring UPI payments: How to track all your mandates at one place

From a cash management perspective, this is becoming increasingly important, according to Nigam, because a forgotten mandate may seem insignificant in isolation, but multiple recurring debits can affect liquidity, disrupt monthly budgeting and create avoidable financial stress.

In the second half of 2025, many complaints had also surfaced in which users reported seeing regular debits without clear understanding of how the mandates were created or how they could be cancelled.

While different UPI apps allow users to revoke a mandate that they might have initiated on the app, it doesn’t show other mandates which they might have activated on some different app. But the National Payments Corporation of India lets users track all their UPI autopay mandates at one place.

Uninstalling a shopping or OTT app often does not cancel the underlying payment mandate. Follow the steps to see all your UPI autopay mandates at one place and revoke them:

1. Go to https://upihelp.npci.org.in , where you can see a consolidated view of your UPI activity across payment apps 2. Login with your Aadhaar-linked mobile number. 3. Once logged in, you will be able to see all your autopay mandates. 4. Pause or cancel, if you want.

If pause or revoke is not working, you can revoke the mandate on the specific UPI app too, since now you know which mandate was activated via which app.

Using the BHIM UPI App

1. Open the BHIM UPI app and log in using relevant MPIN. 2. Navigate to the Mandates or AutoPay section. 3. Select the active payment request you want to close. 4. Tap revoke and confirm using UPI PIN.

Consumers should make it a habit to periodically review their active mandates, track upcoming debits and revoke authorizations that are no longer required.