Bharti Airtel hikes minimum recharge plan price: It will cost you this much now

Much to the disappointment of users, days after raising tariffs by about 40 per cent, Bharti Airtel has also hiked its minimum monthly recharge for prepaid users. The plan, which earlier cost Rs 35, will now be available for Rs 45. This means that the customers will have to pay Rs 10 extra for the plan. The minimum recharge plan was introduced by Airtel at Rs 35 more than a year ago. Notably, the telecom operator asks its users to recharge every month to make sure their services remain in operation.

“It will be mandatory to recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above every 28 days to avail services," Airtel said in a notice on Sunday. The customers will get a grace period of 15 days after the recharge is over during which they will continue to enjoy certain services. However, if they fail to recharge during that period, the services could be suspended.

“In case of non-recharge with a voucher of Rs 45 or above at the end of the tariff validity period, Airtel reserves the right to provide the plan benefits in a curtailed manner at its own discretion during the grace period of 15 days. In case of non-recharge of a voucher with Rs 45 or above, all services will be suspended post the grace period," it said.

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The company had announced the Rs 35 plan in November 2018 with an aim to reduce the number of inactive customers and help focus attention on improving services for better-paying users.

Earlier this month, Airtel had also reduced the validity of its popular prepaid recharge plan of Rs 558. The validity of this plan has been reduced to 56 days. Airtel offers truly unlimited voice calls, 3GB data per day, and 100 SMS per day. Earlier, the plan used to have a validity of 82 days. It also included Rs 100 cashback on FASTag and free four-week course at Shaw Academy with a validity of this benefit being just for 28 days.