They say “those who can, do, those who can’t, teach”. But Abhishek proved it wrong by opening his own coaching business, and since he had been in the business long enough, gathering the students wasn’t the problem. It was registering the business. How does one do that? 

Someone needs to teach him how to register a business in India, time to hit up Pete, the policy expert. 

Abhishek: Pete, you gotta help me out. I got students waiting, classrooms set up, and parents ready to bully me. How do I register my business? 

Pete: First things first, your business is your baby, and the baby needs a name. But it needs to be unique. Take some inspiration from the celebrities, pick something different, and check if it’s available on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website. 

Oh and, get ready to become besties with MCA portal, you’re going to be hanging out a lot. 

Abhishek: Ok, I’ve got some names up my sleeve. What’s next? 

Pete: Throwing some technical stuff at you, catch ’em’ while you can. 

Next, you need a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) and a Director Identification Number (DIN). 

DSC is to prove you’re a real, authentic person, or as the kids say, NO CAP, and it acts like a digital signature. 

And the DIN is for all the major shot-callers or directors in your company, people who are running it, basically. You and your business partner would both need it. 

Abhishek: Oh yeah, I have my brother onboarding as a co-founder. Keeping it in the family, y’know! What’s next, Pete? 

Pete: Next, comes the plan. Just as you ask your students, “What do you want to be when you grow up”? The MCA wants to know what your baby business is up to or will be up to. 

These plans are known as Memorandum of Associate (MOA), Articles of association (AOA), the blueprints of your business, how you’re gonna do it, and what the rules are. 

Abhishek: That’s a lotta documents, Pete. 

Pete: You need exams to evaluate your students, your business bestie, the MCA, needs all the fancy legal documents. 

Abhishek: Ok, I’ll get these. Is there more? 

Pete: Now that you’ve taken the exam, you have to get a gold star from the principal, ie, a Notary Public or an Advocate. Get the MOA and AOA signed and approved by them. 

Abhishek: ok, that’s easy, no problemo. 

Pete: Finally, you’d need to file an application for incorporation of the company with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) in the state where your company is located. 

This is serious stuff, almost like the birth certificate of your baby business. 

Abhishek: And I thought filing taxes was complicated. 

Pete: And with that, Abhishek, you’re done…almost. 

Exam is over, hand the papers over to the invigilator for evaluation. 

I mean, submit all these details on the MCA portal, and once approved, your business will be a legitimate one! It can all be done online, so at least you have that going for you. 

But psst, let me tell you a shortcut, you can get a lawyer to do this for you for a little fee. Or just sign up for Razorpay Rize. It’s not like cheating, it’s just an easier option. 

Abhishek: whaaat..why didn’t you start with that? 

Soon Rohan saw the potential in his gift and started “Rohan’s bakery”. And just as the sugar rush hits, his bakery saw a rush of customers, some wanting their regular orders, more regularly. Till the point that they were willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for their fix of sugar.

And so, he created a monthly subscription for his desserts. This would automate the payments for Rohan and his customers, and make for consistent business. But, as unfortunate as burnt cake, it came to his attention that RBI had made OTP mandatory for recurring payments. 

What could this mean for his business? Will he have to make changes to his subscription? 

It was time to visit Paul the policy expert! 

Rohan: Hey Paul, what is this new update as per the RBI? 

Paul: Well, to be straight with you, new rules have come into effect since June 2022. Now, customers will have to confirm certain recurring payments with OTPs.

Rohan: OTP for monthly subscription payments? But this will be a huge problem for me. Payments for my business are usually auto-debited. I want my customers to fill their tummies, not OTPs! 

Paul: Don’t worry, they won’t have to. 

It all depends on the total payment. The RBI has mandated an OTP for recurring payments above Rs.15,000. 

So if your subscription costs less than 15,000 rupees, you’re good, bro. 

Rohan: Wait wait wait, so this doesn’t impact me at all then? Aww sweet!

Paul: Just a little.  

Now, your customers will have to sign up for your subscriptions by authenticating once with an OTP. And for every payment, they’ll be notified 24 hours beforehand. It’s how the cookie crumbles.

Rohan: But I’m a bit confused. OTPs were supposed to be a one-time thing, why must customers enter them again and again? 

Paul: In a way, this is great for Indian businesses. It prevents their customers from losing a large amount of money without confirmation. For example, a customer might change their mind about a certain subscription. The OTPs give them more control over the payments. 

But since your subscription does not cost above 15,000 rupees, your payments will happen automatically. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Except maybe diabetes. 

Rohan: Oh sorted. On that note, how about that creamy caramel chocolate cookie?  

FAQs 

1. What are recurring payments? 
2. What are examples of recurring payments?
3. What are the new RBI guidelines for recurring payment?
4. How to stop recurring payments? 
5. Are automatic payments different from recurring payments? 

Soon, it was evident she had a knack to hack home decor. 

Sanya started her own business of premium home decor items. She designed savvy vases, funky furniture, and edgy showpieces. Since these were a bit pricey, customers wouldn’t often place orders when there wasn’t a sale. 

“What do I do now? How many sales do I keep having?” She wondered, “I guess it’s time to visit Dr. Poli”. 

Here’s how it went: 

Sanya: Dr. Poli, Customers check out my products, par phir checkout hi nahi karte!

I can’t keep having sales, Aise toh I’ll go into losses. Should I cut down my prices? 

Dr. Poli: Ok, pehle batao, apart from the usual, have you included the Buy now, pay later, or EMI option for customers? 

Read More About: What is Deferred Payment and How Does it Work?

Sanya: No, I have the card, UPI, COD, and net banking options.

Dr Poli: Orders increase karne ke liye, payment options bhi increase karne padte hai.  Aapko pata hai, more than 30% customers prefer pay-later options? 

Sanya:  What is this pay-later payment method? Matlab bina payment order kaise place hoga? 

Dr. Poli: Payment hogi. Customers can pay a little at checkout, and the rest later in installments, over a period of time. It’s like a loan. 

Matlab, checkout abhi, payment ki tension baadme.

Sanya: Par meri payment ka kya? Mujhe bhi paise late milenge?  

Dr. Poli: Wahi toh best part hai, you get paid in full at the time of checkout! 

Sanya: Wow. But who’s paying me then? 

Dr. Poli: Between you and the customer, there’s another party involved, ie, the lender. Companies like ZestMoney, Simpl, and Axio, all deal with pay-later payment options. 

They pay you on behalf of the customer, with a little fee, and the customer pays them over time. 

Samjhin aap?

Aapko milegi full payment, customer ko order! Win win!

Sanya: Arre wah! But what if the customer doesn’t pay back the lender? Mujhe paise wapis toh nahi karne padenge? 

Dr. Poli: Sab BNPL company pe chodh do. They’ll ensure they’ve approved customers who have a decent payments history. 

And as there are usually low or 0% interest rates and different payment plans, customers can pick and choose whichever they prefer. There are EMI plans for as low as INR50 per month! 

Sanya: Awesome! I guess I don’t have to do anything here. *Phew*

Dr. Poli: You actually have the most important job of them all. 

Aapko payment options integrate karne honge. 

Whichever payment gateway you have, you have to include such vendors for the customer, so they can pay via Cardless EMI, EMI, and Buy now, pay later. 

Sanya: Got it, thanks Poli Ji. 

FAQs:

1. What is Buy now, pay later?
2. How do I pay via Buy now pay later?
3. How do I Include the buy now pay later options at checkout?
4. Which companies are best known for Buy now Pay later?
5. How often do you have to make payments after opting for Buy now pay later?
6. How do I pay via EMI?

In just a few weeks he closed tons of sales and in 6 months, he had a flourishing business.

But in July, he heard about the tokenisation of cards made mandatory by the RBI. With the deadline set for September 30, he started panicking. 

What is tokenisation? How was this going to impact his business? Why does it even exist?

It was time to visit Dr. Poli C and learn the A, B, and Cs of tokenisation. 

Here’s how their conversation went: 

Dr. Poli C: Sunil, welcome! How can I help? 

Sunil: I’ve heard some news about “token-something” from RBI. What’s a token? The only token I know about is the one I buy to have Golgappe. Kuch samaj nahi aa raha.

Dr. Poli C: Arre shaant hojao.Yes, the Reserve Bank of India has made tokenisation of cards jaroori. This is good for you and your business. 

Sabse pehle, how were you receiving online payments till now? 

Sunil:  On the payment server of my website. I have my own, so via UPI, cards, or net banking only. And of course, many of them are cash payments as well.

Dr. Poli C: Haan, were customers saving their cards at your payment server? 

Sunil: Of course

Dr. Poli C: Hacker-wacker ne data chura liya toh? Scam ho gaya toh? Kabhi socha hai? 

Sunil:  Aisa bhi ho sakta hai kya? Phir toh customers mujhe trust nahi karenge? 

Dr. Poli C: Haan, ab yeh nahi chalega, Chai ki Chuski lo aur suno.

Card info is sensitive and to prevent scams and data leaks, RBI has made it mandatory to tokenize cards. Matlab card details will be saved as completely different numbers and values, so no one can steal this data. This is called the tokenisation of cards.  And this ensures the data you saved is SAFE AND SOUND. 

Sunil: Accha what will card details be saved as? I’m scared, Will I lose my customers to Chandu ke Lehenge now?

Dr. Poli C: For example, card number 1234567812345678 of sunil1234@gmail.com will be saved as 4543hgjd2456dhsb, with the email ID dfjhk3458@gmail.com, bilkul different. Samjhe?

Sunil: Accha, But what’s the point of doing this? Will this be expensive? 

Dr. Poli C: Ab customer card details aapke server pe save nahi honge, card ke network par save honge. And they’ll be saved as different numbers and alphabets. So you won’t have to worry about any data leaks because you don’t have the saved cards anymore! 

Your customers will also feel safe about saving their card details with you. 

And now payments will be faster for you. Kyuki, card safely saved, which means your customers don’t have to enter their long card numbers to buy something from you. Only CVV is required, OTP, and their payment is done! 

Sunil: Hmmm, What about UPI and net banking, will this also affect those payment options? 

Dr. Poli: Ji nahi, this is only for cards, UPI and net banking payments will work as usual. 

Sunil: Arre, yeh toh bhadiya hai, main aiwi tension le raha tha.

Dr. Poli C: Haanji, now tell your customers to verify your cards and save them for quicker payments. Worry-free, both you and your customers! 

Now leave everything to your payment aggregator. You just focus on having your next sale for Christmas and new year. Tension free. 

Onam ho ya Lodhi, Sagai ho ya Satsang, Sunil’s customers can shop non-stop by tokenizing their cards!