How to handle an IPO UPI mandate timeout

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 12 May 2026. Reading time ~8 min. Level: Intermediate.

Key facts

What a timeout means	The sponsor bank's mandate offer to the UPI app expired before you approved it
Common causes	Notification not received; UPI app not opened in time; sponsor bank queue overload
Effect on the bid	Bid remains in Mandate Pending status; the registrar will reject it if not resolved before 5 PM IST on the closing day
Recovery option	Withdraw the bid on Kite and re-submit; a fresh mandate offer is sent
Final cutoff for recovery	5 PM IST on the bid closing day

A UPI mandate timeout occurs when the sponsor bank’s mandate offer to your UPI app expires before you authorise it. This is the most common recoverable failure mode in the UPI ASBA IPO process, and it is almost always fixable as long as the bid window is still open and sufficient time remains before 5 PM IST on the bid closing day.

This guide covers the causes of a mandate timeout, how to distinguish it from other mandate failures (such as a rejected mandate or a duplicate mandate), and the recovery procedure.

For the standard mandate approval procedure see the generic mandate approval guide. For the bid withdrawal procedure see the withdrawal guide.

What causes a mandate timeout

The UPI mandate for an IPO is initiated by the sponsor bank after the broker (Zerodha) transmits the bid to the exchange. The mandate offer has a validity window at the sponsor bank’s system, typically thirty minutes to a few hours. If the offer expires before the applicant approves it in the UPI app, the mandate is considered timed out.

Common causes:

Push notification not received. The UPI app’s push notification channel (Google Firebase, Apple APNS, or the bank’s own push service) failed to deliver the notification. This is the most common cause, particularly on peak IPO subscription days when millions of notifications are dispatched simultaneously.
Notification received but dismissed or missed. The applicant dismissed the notification without opening the UPI app. The mandate offer may still be in the Pending requests section of the UPI app for a window of time.
UPI app not checked promptly. The mandate offer at the sponsor bank had a short validity window and expired before the applicant opened the UPI app.
Sponsor bank system overload. On very high-demand IPO closing days, the sponsor bank’s mandate queue is processing a large volume of requests. Some mandates are dispatched with a delay, and in extreme cases, the bank’s internal mandate offer expires before it is dispatched to the UPI app.
Wrong UPI app. The UPI ID entered in the Zerodha bid form is registered on a different UPI app than the one the applicant checked. The mandate was sent to the app where the VPA is registered.

Distinguishing a timeout from other failures

Not all Mandate Pending statuses indicate a timeout. Distinguish as follows:

Status on Kite	UPI app shows	Likely cause
Mandate Pending	Mandate in Pending requests	Mandate not yet approved; approve now
Mandate Pending	Mandate not in Pending requests (even in bank app) for 15+ min	Mandate timed out at sponsor bank; withdraw and re-submit
Mandate Pending	Mandate present but Approve/Authorise greyed out	Mandate expired; withdraw and re-submit
Rejected	No mandate	Bid rejected (U16/ZD/U30); check error code; re-submit
Mandate Accepted	N/A	Mandate already approved; no action needed

Step-by-step recovery procedure

Check whether the mandate notification arrived

Open your UPI app and navigate to the Pending requests section:

Google Pay: Requests tab on home screen.
PhonePe: Notifications → Pending requests.
Paytm: UPI & Payments → Pending UPI requests.
BHIM: Approve mandate banner on home screen.
Amazon Pay: Money → Pending requests.
WhatsApp Pay: Payments → Pending.

Pull-to-refresh the section. If the mandate appears here, proceed to approve it immediately.

Check the bid status on Kite

Navigate to Bids → Order history on Zerodha Kite. If the status reads Mandate Pending fifteen or more minutes after bid submission and you cannot locate the mandate in the UPI app, a timeout at the sponsor bank is likely.

A status of Mandate Pending alone does not confirm a timeout; the mandate may simply be in transit. Wait fifteen minutes from bid submission before concluding that a timeout has occurred.

Attempt to find the mandate in the bank’s own app

Before withdrawing and re-submitting, try locating the mandate in the mobile banking app for the bank account linked to your UPI ID:

SBI: YONO → UPI → Pending requests.
HDFC Bank: PayZapp or HDFC Bank app → UPI → Mandates → Pending.
ICICI Bank: iMobile Pay → UPI → Mandate Management → Pending.
Axis Bank: Axis Mobile → UPI → Mandates → Pending approval.
Kotak: Kotak Mobile Banking → Payments → UPI → Manage mandates.

Bank-own apps receive the mandate from the bank’s core banking system directly, bypassing the push notification chain. If the mandate is visible here but not in the third-party app, approve it in the bank’s own app.

If the mandate is found in the bank app, approve it

Approve the mandate in the bank’s own app following the standard procedure: review details, tap Approve or Authorise, enter UPI PIN. Return to Kite and verify the bid status changes to Mandate Accepted within thirty seconds.

See the bank app mandate guide for bank-specific navigation.

If the mandate is not found anywhere: withdraw and re-submit

If the mandate is absent from all UPI apps and all bank apps after fifteen minutes, and the bid status on Kite remains Mandate Pending, the mandate has likely timed out.

Step 1: Withdraw the existing bid.

Navigate to Bids → Order history on Kite. Locate the bid card for the issue. Click Withdraw. Confirm the withdrawal. The bid status changes to Withdrawn.

Step 2: Re-submit a fresh bid for the same issue.

Navigate to Bids → IPO on Kite. Locate the issue and click Apply. Enter the same (or revised) quantity, price, and UPI ID. Tick the SEBI undertaking and click Submit. A new mandate offer is generated and sent to your UPI app.

Step 3: Approve the mandate for the re-submitted bid immediately.

As soon as the bid status changes to Pending Mandate, open the UPI app and approve the mandate. Do not wait; the re-submitted mandate offer has the same timeout behaviour as the original.

Approve the mandate for the re-submitted bid

After re-submission, your UPI app receives a new mandate request. Open the app, locate the mandate in Pending requests, verify the issuer name and block amount, and enter your UPI PIN to approve.

Confirm the bid status on Kite reads Mandate Accepted.

Error codes indicating a timeout vs other failures

NPCI and the sponsor banks return error codes when a mandate fails. The codes visible in the Kite status or in Zerodha support logs include:

U16 / ZD: Duplicate mandate at the sponsor bank (not a timeout; this is a deduplication failure). Withdraw, wait fifteen minutes, and re-submit.
U30: Sponsor bank technical error (may overlap with timeout). Withdraw and re-submit; if U30 persists, try using a different UPI ID on the same bank account.
U69: Mandate expired (explicit timeout). Withdraw and re-submit.
U02: Insufficient balance. Ensure available balance covers the mandate block before re-submitting.

For the full NPCI UPI error code catalogue, see the UPI ASBA wiki article.

Preventing mandate timeouts

Submit the bid early in the day, not in the final hour of the bid window. The mandate then has hours to propagate and you have time to retry if it does not arrive.
Enable push notifications for your UPI app. Most phones allow per-app notification settings.
Check the UPI app immediately after submitting the bid, without waiting for the push notification.
Use the bank’s own UPI app as your primary UPI app for IPO applications, as it is the most reliable for mandate discovery.

What can go wrong in the recovery flow

Withdrawal not processed before 5 PM IST. If you initiate the withdrawal close to 5 PM IST, the withdrawal instruction and the re-submission and the mandate approval may not all complete in time. Allow at least twenty minutes.
Re-submitted bid also times out. If the sponsor bank’s system is overloaded, the second mandate offer may also timeout. Try using the bank’s own app to catch the mandate as soon as it is generated.
Withdrawal rejected because window is closed. If the bid window has already closed, the bid is locked and cannot be withdrawn. The mandate approval window is also closed; the bid is rejected automatically.

References

NPCI UPI 2.0 mandate specification and error code catalogue, https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-overview.
NPCI Circular dated 8 September 2025, Enhancement of UPI Per-Transaction Limits for Capital Markets.
FAQs on UPI in Public Issue Process, SEBI, July 2019.
How to modify or withdraw IPO bids, Zerodha Support Portal, https://support.zerodha.com/category/trading-and-markets/ipo/.

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 12 May 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.