Existing cheque clearing arrangement will continue till year end: RBI

Despite July 31 deadline for withdrawal of old format cheques, many such cheques still being presented for clearing

Non-CTS-2010 cheques (Cheque Truncation System) will continue to be cleared even after the deadline of July 31, 2013. However, banks must continue to make efforts to withdraw the non-CTS-2010 standard cheques in circulation, said the Reserve Bank of India, in a notification issued on Tuesday.

The deadline for the withdrawal of non-CTS-2010 standard cheques is July 31, 2013 and banks have begun to issue fresh cheques in the CTS-2010 complaint format. But there is still a large volume of non-CTS-2010 format cheques being presented in image-based clearing, the RBI said. Hence, the existing clearing arrangements will continue till December 31, 2013.

New clearing arrangements will be put into effect with effect from January 1, 2014,  in the three CTS centres – Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi - for clearing of non-CTS 2010 instruments. This separate clearing session will initially operate thrice a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), up to April 30, 2014.

Thereafter, the frequency of such separate sessions will be reduced to twice a week up to October 31, 2014 (Monday and Friday) and further to weekly once (Monday). If the day for clearing non-CTS-2010 instruments falls on a holiday, then these cheques will be presented on the previous working day. Operational instructions in this regard will be issued separately by the CTS centers, said RBI.

In view of the proposed arrangement for clearing of such instruments at less frequent intervals, banks must educate their customers of the likely delay in realisation of non-CTS-2010 standard cheques, the RBI said. The banks' Cheque Collection Policies (CCPs) Must also be modified to reflect this change. Banks must also make arrangement for handling customer complaints, if any, arising out of this new arrangement.