Amazon Prime’s Rs 129 monthly subscription, which was discontinued in May, is now available once again. The retail giant had to temporarily cancel the subscription tier after a guideline was issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Amazon removed the plan as the new guideline required users to apply an additional factor of authentication (AFA) to process recurring online transactions. However, it has now complied with the RBI’s directives.
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Now that the base plan has been brought back, Amazon Prime is available three options which include the monthly plan priced at Rs 129, a three-month subscription priced at Rs 329, and an annual plan costing Rs 999. As per the revised Terms and Conditions on Amazon, all three subscription plans can be purchased through those banks that have complied with RBI’s e-mandate guidelines. Banks that have not met the RBI guidelines will be unable to process any automated payments.
Amazon Prime Rs 129 monthly subscription makes a comeback
Amazon Prime Rs 129 monthly subscription is available again
While the Rs 329 and Rs 999 subscriptions can be purchased through different electronic payment methods, the Rs 129 plan can be availed only through all credit cards and a debit cards from Citi, ICICI, Kotak, Canara, Deutsche, HDFC, Axis and Bank of Baroda (Visa only). The Rs 129 plan includes all the standard Prime benefits include free delivery, Prime Video subscription, Amazon Music subscription, deals, offers, and more.
Since the banks that have complied with RBI’s guidelines cannot process automated payments requests, Amazon has discontinued new member sign-ups for Amazon Prime Free Trail until further notice. The company claimed that users can continue to enjoy Prime membership benefits by manually signing up or renewing the monthly, three-month, or annual plan.
The mandate requires a one-time AFA for recurring payments of up to Rs 5,000, whereas higher transactions require AFA for each payment. The new mandate was announced back in August 2019 to prevent users from making unwanted recurring payments. After repeated delays, the new guidelines came into effect starting from October 1st, 2021.