Mumbai, Aug 14
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that bank cheques must be cleared within a few hours from October 4 -- down from the current clearance time of up to two working days.
Under the new mechanism, the banks will scan, present and pass cheques within a few hours and on a continuous basis during the business hours, cutting the clearing cycle down from the present T+1 days, a circular from central bank said.
The current Cheque Truncation System (CTS) processes cheques within a clearing cycle of up to two working days.
The RBI decided to transition CTS from batch processing to continuous clearing with 'on-realisation-settlement' to improve the efficiency of cheque clearing, reduce settlement risk for participants, and enhance customer experience.
CTS will transition to continuous clearing and settlement on realisation in two phases. Phase 1 will be implemented on October 4, 2025, and Phase 2 on January 3, 2026. A single presentation session is scheduled from 10 am to 4 pm.
"Cheques received by the branches shall be scanned and sent to the clearing house by the banks immediately and continuously during the presentation session," the circular said.