RBI takes big step, faster settlement of cheques from September 30

New Delhi: In a move that will result in faster settlement of cheques resulting in better customer service, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to implement the image-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in all branches by September 30.

" To leverage the availability of CTS and provide uniform customer experience irrespective of location of her/his bank branch, it has been decided to extend CTS across all bank branches in the country. To facilitate this, banks shall have to ensure that all their branches participate in image-based CTS under respective grids by September 30, 2021. They are free to adopt a model of their choice, like deploying suitable infrastructure in every branch or following a hub & spoke model, etc. and concerned banks shall coordinate with the respective Regional Offices of RBI to operationalise this," an RBI statement said.

The CTS is in use since 2010 and presently covers around 1,50,000 branches. All the erstwhile 1219 non-CTS clearing houses (ECCS centres) have been migrated to CTS effective September 2020. It is, however, seen that there are branches of banks that are outside any formal clearing arrangement and their customers face hardships due to longer time taken and cost involved in collection of cheques presented by them.

Banks have also been asked to inform the RBI the roadmap to achieve pan-India coverage of CTS and submit a status report before April 30, 2021.

"Banks are advised to inform us (helpdpss@rbi.org.in) the roadmap to achieve pan-India coverage of CTS and submit a status report before April 30, 2021," RBI said.