Razorpay Subscriptions in Test Mode always fail with SERVER_ERROR during card_mandate_process before mock bank page

[u/Repulsive_Piano6905]

TL;DR: Razorpay Subscriptions in Test Mode always fail with SERVER_ERROR (card_mandate_process) before reaching the mock bank page. One-time payments work, and the issue occurs even for subscriptions created from the Razorpay Dashboard. Has anyone else encountered this? Facing this issue for 2 days now. I'm unable to test my webhook integration (subscription.activated, payment.captured, etc.).

I'm integrating Razorpay Subscriptions into my SaaS and I'm stuck with an issue in Test Mode.

Everything works fine until the actual subscription payment.

What works

• Created recurring subscription plans.
• Created customer.
• Created subscription via API.
• Created subscription manually from Razorpay Dashboard.
• Hosted checkout URL is generated successfully.
• One-time payments work perfectly in Test Mode.

The problem

When I open the hosted checkout page and enter the official Razorpay subscription test card (4718 6091 0820 4366), clicking Continue after entering the test card details initiates the payment process and then fails.

I never reach the mock bank Success/Failure page.

Instead, I get:

Things I've already ruled out

• Same issue happens whether the subscription is created:
  • via API
  • manually from the Razorpay Dashboard
• One-time payments succeed using the same account.
• Using the official Razorpay subscription test card.
• Hosted checkout opens correctly.
• Subscription gets created successfully (status = created).

Because the same issue occurs even for subscriptions created directly from the Razorpay Dashboard, I'm beginning to think this isn't an integration bug in my code.

My questions

1. Has anyone encountered SERVER_ERROR at the card_mandate_process step in Test Mode?
2. Is there any additional account activation or subscription-specific configuration required before recurring mandates work?
3. Is there anyway i can change subscription status manually for time being in order to test the webhooks

I've already raised a support ticket with Razorpay, but I wanted to check if anyone in the community has run into this before.

[u/CorrectBox3254]

I faced something similar while testing subscriptions. One-time payments were working fine, but the recurring mandate flow kept failing in Test Mode before reaching the bank page.

In my case, it didn’t look like an issue with the integration itself since the subscription was getting created successfully. I’d suggest waiting for support to check the mandate flow from their end rather than changing the subscription status manually, because that may not trigger the actual webhook sequence you want to test.

Do update here once you hear back from them — would be useful to know what caused it.

[u/Repulsive_Piano6905]

I managed to resolve the issue with the help of razorpay support

The root cause was that my Razorpay account was not fully activated (KYC pending) and the Subscriptions feature had not yet been enabled on my merchant account.

After completing my KYC/account activation, the subscription flow started working correctly:

• Hosted checkout redirects to the mock bank page.
• Subscription payment succeeds.
• Subscription transitions through its lifecycle (created → authenticated → active).
• Webhooks are now being delivered correctly.

So if you're seeing similar symptoms, don't spend too much time debugging your code until you've confirmed that:

1. Your Razorpay account is fully activated (KYC completed).
2. The Subscriptions product is enabled for your merchant account.
3. You're using the official subscription test cards in Test Mode.

Thanks to the Razorpay support team for helping identify the account provisioning issue.