YES BANK and Open Financial Technologies have launched i-Mandate, an agentic payments platform designed to help banks, NBFCs, mutual fund houses and enterprises identify and address potential failures in recurring payments before a debit is presented. The platform was launched at the Global Fintech Festival 2026.
The platform combines predictive intelligence, decision-making and automated payment actions to move recurring payments beyond fixed-date instructions. It is initially aimed at loan repayments and EMI collections, with potential applications in mutual fund SIPs, subscriptions and enterprise recurring collections.
Traditional recurring payment systems generally rely on a predetermined debit date and account. If sufficient funds are unavailable when the debit is attempted, the payment can fail, creating additional collection work for institutions and friction for customers.
i-Mandate adds an intelligent layer before the payment is presented. It is designed to identify payments that may be at risk, determine an intervention based on institution-defined policies and engage customers to complete an authorised alternative action. Options can include changing the payment date, switching the repayment account, registering a new mandate or making the payment immediately through an alternate method.
The platform’s Smart Protect capability can analyse historical account and transaction patterns, where enabled and with customer consent, to identify when funds are typically available and assess potentially more suitable payment dates or repayment accounts.
For example, if an EMI is scheduled for the fifth of the month but a customer’s salary typically arrives on the seventh, i-Mandate can flag the upcoming payment as potentially at risk. Depending on the lender’s policies, the customer can then be offered options to change the payment date, use another eligible bank account, register a new mandate or make the payment through an alternative option.
At the centre of the platform is an AI payment agent that can interact with customers through voice and WhatsApp in 22 Indian languages. Rather than functioning only as a reminder or IVR system, the agent is designed to understand a customer’s response, determine the next step within predefined rules and assist with an authorised action during the interaction.
The platform’s architecture is built around three capabilities — Predict, Decide and Act. Institutions retain control over permitted actions, when they can be performed, customer-consent requirements and additional approval or risk controls.
i-Mandate also provides institutions with visibility into upcoming recurring collections, including expected successful payments, payments potentially at risk, the potential value of failures, customer actions taken before presentation and expected collection and cash-flow positions.
“Recurring payments today are largely built around fixed instructions while customers’ cash flows are inherently dynamic,” said Anish Achuthan, co-founder and CEO of Open. “Together with YES BANK, we have reimagined this journey by introducing an agentic layer that can identify when a payment may be at risk, determine the right intervention and help complete an authorised alternate payment action before the transaction fails.”
Manish Jain, ED, YES BANK, said the partnership with Open reflects the bank’s focus on developing payment infrastructure through fintech collaborations. He said the platform could be applied across recurring payment use cases spanning lending, investments and subscription-based businesses.
For Open, i-Mandate is also part of Arc, its AI-native lending platform for banks and NBFCs. Arc is designed to work alongside existing lending and core banking systems, covering money movement, borrower servicing, collections and recovery across the lending lifecycle.