In the modern digital age, convenience rules—particularly when it comes to payments. Whether it's your OTT subscription every month or your gym membership, recurring payments are now a part of daily life. But what about the education sector?

If you are a teacher conducting online courses or coaching classes, knowing and applying recurring payments in India can save your time, enhance your cash flow, and make the learning experience better for your students.

In this blog post, we'll demystify recurring payments for you, detail how they are used in India, cover RBI regulations, and demonstrate how Learnyst makes it easy for your online academy.

According to the Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows that UPI Autopay transactions surged to 175 million in January 2025, marking a threefold rise from 58 million in January 2024.

What Are Recurring Payments?

Recurring payments (subscription payments) refer to automatic payments made at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, or annually) for a service or product. The customer authorizes payment once, and then the system automatically processes the payment.

For instance:

A student pays ₹499/month for a stock market course. Rather than paying by hand every month, the payment gets auto-debited from their card or UPI each month—until canceled.

How Recurring Payments Work in India

In India, recurring payments are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI has issued certain guidelines to ensure recurring payments are safer and more transparent.

Important Points You Should Know:

• One-Time Consent from Customer: The user has to give explicit one-time consent to the recurring mandate.
• Transaction Limit: Any recurring transaction over ₹15,000 (as per RBI guidelines, last updated Dec 2021) requires extra user verification.
• Pre-Debit Notice Before Each Debit: The customers should be provided with a pre-debit notice 24 hours in advance of the auto-debit.
• Tokenization for Card Payment: Card information is substituted with tokens to guarantee secure processing.

The UPI Revolution in India: A Game-Changer for Recurring Payments

When the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) released Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in 2016, it revolutionized the way digital payments are made by Indians. UPI not only facilitated bank-to-bank transfers in real time but also set the stage for secure, convenient, and scalable recurring payment systems.

What is UPI Payment?

UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is an instant payment system created by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that lets you send money in real time between bank accounts with the use of a mobile phone.

How UPI Enabled the Growth of Recurring Payments

Conventionally, periodic payments such as monthly subscription, SIP, insurance premium, or electricity bills used to be made through credit cards, ECS (Electronic Clearing Service), or net banking mandates. These processes used to involve cumbersome authorization procedures and were not made available for users who were not credit card holders or had access to net banking.

UPI revolutionized things by rolling out UPI AutoPay in 2020. This is how it improved things:

• Streamlined Authorization: Users can authorize recurring payments up to ₹15,000 from their UPI apps with single-time authentication.
• Accessible to All: UPI operates on a bank account directly—no credit cards or wallets required—making it available to millions, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• Secure and Regulated: UPI AutoPay is regulated by RBI guidelines, making it secure, consent-based payments, and user-controlled.
• Ideal for Subscriptions: Platforms that provide courses, OTT content, wellness services, or SaaS products now utilize UPI AutoPay for collecting fees at regular intervals.

UPI's Impact on Educators and Digital Course Creators

For teachers and online course authors, particularly those utilizing Learnyst-like platforms, UPI has accelerated subscription-based payment collection and made it more accessible. Learners can now subscribe to monthly plans, pay for test series, or gain access to premium content with ease—simply by tapping a few times on their device.

Use Case: Monthly Subscription Plans for Your Online Courses

Suppose you have an NISM course on Learnyst. You charge ₹999/month. With recurring payments, your students enroll once and pay automatically every month until they finish the course or unsubscribe. This is best for:

• Test series & mock tests
• Live doubt-clearing sessions
• Ongoing mentorship programs
• Cohort-based monthly classes

RBI Guidelines Simplified (For Course Creators)

RBI's rules looks kind of complex, but here’s a simplified version just for educators:

How Learnyst Simplifies Recurring Payments for You

With Learnyst, it's a piece of cake to set up recurring payments. We've made integrations with Indian payment gateways that are 100% RBI-compliant. Here's what you have to look forward to:

• Seamless Setup: Set up subscription-based courses in minutes.
• Multiple Payment Options: Accept payments through UPI, cards, and net banking.
• Auto-Renewals: Turn recurring billing on with zero coding required.
• Payment Reminders: Students receive auto-reminders for renewals.
• Secure & RBI-Compliant: Tokenization, pre-debit alerts, and cancellation workflows built-in.

Bonus: You can even provide discounts for longer subscriptions (e.g., 20% off for yearly plans) to increase your revenue.

Final Thoughts: 

Recurring payments are rapidly transforming how digital transactions are handled in India, especially in sectors like education, entertainment, and wellness. With RBI’s evolving guidelines and a push toward secure, consent-based billing systems, it has become easier and safer than ever to offer subscription-based services.

For instructors and course developers, recurring billing means a steady stream of revenue, reduces manual intervention, and provides learners with an uninterrupted learning experience. Knowing how recurring payments function—and how to effectively implement them—can place you ahead in a competitive digital economy.

By integrating with trusted payment gateways and being RBI-compliant, educators can confidently launch recurring payment models that are scalable and student-friendly.

And finally, if you are an educator who wants to teach online without worrying about the security and the technical aspects, or if you are already teaching online but concerned about the data security and piracy issues, then check out one of the most secure learning management systems in the world, Learnyst, and experience the world of Learnyst with a 14-day free trial. Why wait? Check out Learnyst today.

FAQs

1. What is ETF in Payments?

ETF in payment terms typically means Electronic Funds Transfer. It is the electronic transfer of funds from one bank account to another without the use of physical cash or checks.

2. What is Remit Payment?

A remit payment is the method of sending money from one individual or organization to another, usually between different places or nations. The term "remit" literally means to send or transfer money.

3. When did UPI launched?

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was officially launched by National Payments corporation of India (NPCI) on April 11, 2016.