Washington: Video streaming platform Amazon Prime will now only offer a three-month subscription and an annual subscription to users.
As per Mashable, the tech giant has taken the decision due to the Reserve Bank of India’s recent mandate on recurring transactions.
Amazon will now just offer a three-month membership and a yearly subscription for Prime Video. The move would be a blow for early adopters who could get the premium service out earlier for as low as Rs 129 a month.
Mashable cited RBI guidelines in a Gadgets360 report. The new rules from RBI require banks and monetary organizations to present an additional step of authentication for processing recurring online transactions.
According to the RBI order, “arrangements/practices not compliant with AFA would not be continued beyond 31st March 2021.”
This deadline was subsequently updated to September 2021 to permit more institutions more time to comply and avoid any inconvenience to the user. The mandate formulated by RBI probably means to reinforce the safety and security of card transactions for clients, particularly concerning repeating exchanges of high value.
Under the new standards, banks should notify customers beforehand with respect to any due repeated payment.
The transaction will just happen once the client has confirmed the exchange and approved it. In addition, the banks should send clients a one-time password (OTP) to hold out a repetitive payment of more than Rs 5000.
Per Mashable, the e-commerce giant has already updated its FAQ page to display the evacuation of the monthly membership plan for Amazon Prime. Amazon has additionally briefly stopped its free trial offered to new Prime members.
Amazon presently has two membership options – subscribe to the three-month plan, priced at Rs 329, or opt for the annual plan, priced at Rs 999.