Recurring Payment (SI)

Standing Instructions — mandate creation, recurring deductions, and full mandate lifecycle management.

What is a Recurring Payment?

Recurring payment is a payment model where customers authorize merchants to charge them automatically for future payments without requiring authentication every time.

Instead of asking the customer to manually complete payment during every billing cycle, the customer approves a mandate once, and future charges happen automatically based on the configured recurring setup.

One-Time Setup

Customer authorizes recurring charges just once during the first payment.

Automatic Billing

Future payments happen automatically without customer intervention.

Common Use Cases

Recurring payments are commonly used for:

• OTT platforms (Netflix, Prime Video)
• EMI payments (loan installments)
• Utility bills (electricity, water, gas)
• SaaS products (cloud software subscriptions)
• Membership plans (gym, clubs)
• Insurance premiums (monthly/quarterly)
• Auto-recharge systems (prepaid mobile, wallets)

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How Recurring Payments Work

1. Customer Creates Mandate

   Customer performs the first payment and approves recurring authorization.

   This creates:

   • A recurring mandate
   • A stored authorization
   • A unique Mandate ID
2. Merchant Stores Mandate Information

   Merchant securely stores:

   • Mandate ID
   • Customer reference
   • Payment method details
   • Frequency configuration

   This Mandate ID is used for all future recurring operations.

3. Future Charges Happen

   Based on the SI type:

   • Fixed SI: PayGlocal automatically debits customer
   • Variable SI: Merchant manually triggers charges when required

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SI Models Supported by PayGlocal

PayGlocal supports two recurring payment models:

Fixed SI — Auto Debit

Fixed recurring payment with predefined amount and schedule.

Examples:

• ₹999 every month
• ₹499 every week
• ₹1,200 every quarter

Characteristics:

• Amount remains fixed
• Frequency remains fixed
• PayGlocal automatically deducts payment based on schedule

Best for:

• OTT subscriptions
• Gym memberships
• SaaS subscriptions
• Fixed EMI plans

Variable SI — On-Demand

Variable recurring payment where amount may change for every deduction.

Examples:

• Electricity bills
• Water bills
• Usage-based billing
• Metered SaaS pricing

Characteristics:

• Merchant sets a maximum allowed limit during setup
• Deduction does NOT happen automatically
• Merchant must trigger payment whenever required

Best for:

• Utility billing
• Consumption-based pricing
• Dynamic invoices
• Top-ups

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Fixed SI — Auto Debit

How It Works

During mandate creation:

1. Merchant defines fixed recurring amount
2. Merchant defines billing frequency
3. Customer authorizes recurring deductions

Example: Customer approves:

• ₹999
• Every month
• Automatically deducted

Once approved: PayGlocal automatically charges customer based on configured schedule.

Auto Debit Frequencies

Supported recurring schedules may include:

Frequency	Example
DAILY	Charged every day
WEEKLY	Charged every week
MONTHLY	Charged every month
QUARTERLY	Charged every 3 months
YEARLY	Charged every year

Fixed SI Flow

Customer Creates Mandate
        ↓
Merchant Receives Mandate ID
        ↓
PayGlocal Schedules Recurring Charges
        ↓
Automatic Debit Happens
        ↓
Merchant Receives Payment Status Webhook

Merchant does not need to trigger deductions manually — PayGlocal handles everything automatically based on the configured frequency.

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Variable SI — On-Demand Deduction

How It Works

During mandate creation:

1. Merchant defines maximum allowed amount
2. Customer approves charging permission up to that limit

Important: Payment is NOT auto-debited on schedule. Merchant must manually initiate every deduction request by the help of On Demand API.

When to Use On-Demand Deduction

For charging customer cards in Variable SI, merchant triggers deduction request manually. This is useful when:

• Final amount changes
• Usage-based billing exists
• Invoice amount varies

Example Use Cases:

• Electricity bill generated monthly
• Cloud usage billing
• Water bill deduction
• Wallet recharge
• Subscription add-ons
• Consumption-based SaaS pricing

Variable SI Flow

Customer Creates Variable Mandate
        ↓
Merchant Receives Mandate ID
        ↓
Merchant Generates Invoice
        ↓
Merchant Triggers On-Demand Charge
        ↓
Payment Gets Processed
        ↓
Merchant Receives Payment Status

Amount must always remain within approved mandate limit. If you need to charge more than the maximum limit, you must create a new mandate.

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Mandate Management

Once a mandate is created, merchants can manage its lifecycle.

Mandate Operations

Merchants can:

• Pause recurring deductions temporarily
• Resume paused mandates
• Cancel mandates permanently
• Check mandate status
• View deduction history

This gives merchants complete control over recurring billing operations.

Pause Mandate

Temporarily suspend recurring charges without cancelling the mandate.

Activate Mandate

Resume a paused mandate and restart recurring billing.

Cancel Mandate

Permanently revoke a mandate — cannot be undone.

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Fixed vs Variable — Quick Comparison

Feature	Fixed SI (Auto Debit)	Variable SI (On-Demand)
Amount	Fixed amount every cycle	Variable amount (within max limit)
Frequency	Predefined schedule	Merchant-triggered
Automation	Fully automatic	Manual trigger required
Deduction	PayGlocal handles automatically	Merchant initiates each charge
Best For	Subscriptions, EMIs, memberships	Utility bills, usage-based billing
Example	₹999 every month for Netflix	Electricity bill — varies each month

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Next Steps

Now that you understand how Recurring Payments work, learn how to implement them:

SI Payment Initiation

Create a recurring mandate during the first payment.

SI Transaction Management

Trigger on-demand deductions for Variable SI mandates.

SI Mandate Management

Pause, activate, or cancel mandates after creation.