Question: I've set up an automatic monthly debit on my card for a streaming subscription of about 400 and a separate one for my mutual fund SIP of roughly 12,000. Recently a one-time OTP prompt didn't arrive in time and a payment failed. Should recurring payments like these need an OTP every single time, or is there a threshold below which they go through automatically?
Answer: Recurring payments up to 15,000 per transaction can be processed without additional factor authentication (such as an OTP) once the underlying mandate has been registered with full authentication; both the subscription and SIP debits described fall under this general threshold. Certain categories — mutual fund subscriptions, insurance premiums, and credit card bill payments — get a higher exemption threshold of up to 1,00,000 per transaction. In all cases, the bank must send a pre-debit notification at least 24 hours before the payment, giving the customer a chance to cancel that specific transaction.

Supporting evidence:
title: rbi.org.in/NotificationUser.aspx
quote: All recurring transactions may be authorised without AFA up to ₹15,000/- per transaction Payment of insurance premiums, subscription to mutual funds, and credit card bill payments may be made without AFA up to ₹1,00,000/- per transaction An issuer shall send a pre-transaction notification to the customer, at least 24 hours prior to the actual charge / debit
context: for e-mandates registered to auto-replenish balances of FASTag, and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC).
7. Post-transaction notification An issuer shall send a post-transaction notification to the customer. This notification shall, at the minimum, inform the customer about the merchant’s name, transaction amount, date and time of debit, reference number of transaction and e-mandate, reason for debit, i.e., e-mandate registered by the customer, and details on grievance redressal 1 .
8. Transaction limits and velocity check (a) All recurring transactions may be authorised without AFA up to ₹15,000/- per transaction. Transactions above this amount shall be subject to AFA. (b) Payment of insurance premiums, subscription to mutual funds, and credit card bill payments may be made without AFA up to ₹1,00,000/- per transaction.

9. Dispute resolution and grievance redressal (a) An appropriate dispute redressal system shall be put in place by the issuer to facilitate the customer to lodge grievance/s. (b) RBI instructions on limiting liability of customers for unauthorised transactions shall be applicable to recurring transactions under e-mandates as well.
10. Other provisions (a) No charges shall be levied to the customer for availing the e-mandate facility for recurring transactions. (b) In case of cards, existing e-mandate(s) can be mapped to reissued cards 2 . (c) An acquirer shall ensure compliance with these directions by merchants on-boarded by them.
11. Repeal With the issue of these directions, the instructions/guidelines contained in the following circulars, issued by the Reserve Bank stand repealed. No Circular No. Date Subject

DPSS.CO.PD.No.447/02.14.003/2019-20
August 21, 2019
Processing of e-mandate on cards for recurring transactions
2.
DPSS.CO.PD No.1324/02.23.001/2019-20
January 10, 2020
Processing of e-mandate in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for recurring transactions
3.
DPSS.CO.PD No.754/02.14.003/2020-21
December 04, 2020
Processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions
4.
CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S34/02-14-003/2020
March 31, 2021
Framework for processing of e-mandates for recurring online transactions
5.
Clarification issued to IBA on e-mandate based recurring transactions
October 08, 2021
RBI's framework for e-mandate based recurring transactions
6.
CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S-518/02.14.003/2022-23
June 16, 2022
Processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions