Interactive Section 25 (PSS Act) e-NACH & AutoPay Bounce Statutory Deadline Calculator for Lenders

Section 25(1) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 makes dishonour of an electronic funds transfer instruction—including NPCI e-NACH, NACH Debit, ECS, and UPI AutoPay—due to insufficiency of funds or exceeding arrangement a criminal offence punishable with up to 2 years imprisonment, fine up to twice the amount, or both. Section 25(5) expressly applies Chapter XVII of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (Sections 138 to 147) to electronic mandate dishonour.

No. Under the Supreme Court's 3-Judge Bench ruling in Econ Antri Ltd. v. Rom Industries Ltd. (2014) 11 SCC 769 and Saketh India Ltd. v. India Securities Ltd. (1999) 3 SCC 1, the date of receipt of the NPCI/sponsor-bank return memo (Day 0) is excluded. Day 1 starts on the immediately following calendar day, and the statutory demand notice must be dispatched on or before Day 30.

Once the Section 25 demand notice is delivered or deemed served (Day 0), the borrower gets 15 full days (Day 1 to Day 15) to pay. If unpaid, the cause of action accrues on Day 16. Following Saketh India Ltd., Day 16 itself is excluded when computing the 1-month / 30-day limitation under Section 28(1)(b) of the PSS Act, so the complaint filing window runs from Day 17 through Day 46.

Yes, provided the notice is accompanied by a Section 63 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023 electronic evidence certificate and server/WATI delivery logs. However, experienced NBFC litigation desks dispatch tri-channel notices simultaneously—Email, Business WhatsApp, and Speed Post RPAD—so electronic delivery locks an immediate Day 0 timestamp while RPAD prevents address-denial objections.

If the 30-day notice window after the first NPCI bounce lapses, the lender cannot prosecute that specific bounce under Section 25. However, under MSR Leathers v. S. Palaniappan (2013) 1 SCC 177, if the underlying e-NACH mandate remains valid and unrevoked, the NBFC can re-present the mandate in the next billing cycle and issue a fresh 30-day statutory notice on the subsequent dishonour.

Because Section 25(5) incorporates NI Act Section 142(2) principles, territorial jurisdiction lies before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) or Metropolitan Magistrate having jurisdiction over the branch of the lender's sponsor bank where the electronic funds transfer instruction was presented and dishonoured—enabling centralized NBFC filing rather than chasing borrower districts.

Yes. The proviso to Section 28(1)(b) of the PSS Act (mirroring NI Act s.142(1)(b)) empowers the Magistrate to take cognizance after the 30-day/1-month period if the lender satisfies the Court with documentary proof of sufficient cause for the delay, such as postal POD non-availability, court holiday closures, or force majeure.