Table of Contents
Reserve Bank of India RBI: From January 1, 2021, inform bank otherwise Large Value cheques will bounce
The positive pay system for cheque payments to come into effect from January 1, 2021.
The RBI circular released on 25 September 2020 notes that the Indian National Payment Corporation (NPCI) will establish the positive pay service in the CTS and make it accessible to all participating banks. Banks shall, in turn, permit all account holders to issue cheques of Rs 50,000 and above. Comes January 1, when you tell your bank in advance about drawing up such a cheque, your cheque of a greater sum of Rs 50,000 and above will bounce. A double-check on cheque transactions is enforced by the new system. As of 1 January, your cheque of a greater sum of Rs 50,000 and above will bounce unless you notify your bank in advance of writing up such a cheque.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of India unveiled a new Cheque Truncation System “Positive Pay" system to prevent fraudsters from emptying your bank account with bogus cheques or exploiting your cheque leaves. A method of reconfirming key information of broad value tests is part of the scheme.
In its previous circular of 6 August, the RBI declared a positive pay system for checks, which stated that the operating recommendations would be released independently. The new circular sets out the necessary guidelines to make sure protection in the payment of checks and to reduce the incidence of fraud resulting from the interference of the check left. This step would cover 20% of checks issued in the nation by volume and 80% by value.
CTS for check clearance is now functional across India but covers just 2% and 15% of total retail transactions in value and volume, respectively. The average value of the check cleared in the system is currently Rs 82,000.
The new framework aims to strengthen the CTS-2010 standard by defining minimum security features on check leaves that serve as a safeguard against check fraud, while the standardisation of field placements on check forms allows straight-through processing by using optical / image character recognition technology.
RTGS payment system to be available 24X7 from Monday: Information limits, fees
RTGS payment system to be available 24X7 from 14 December.
- RBI on Wednesday announced that the RTGS would be operational 24×7, all during the year from 14 December 2020. This comes within one year of the operationalization of NEFT 24×7 by RBI.
- "India has become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system around the clock during the year," the central bank said in a statement.
- The news comes days after RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das confirmed the move in the recent meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
-
Since July 2019, RBI ceased levying charges on transactions through NEFT and RTGS with a view to promoting digital transactions in the country.
-
RTGS, which started operations on 26 March 2004 with a soft launch involving four banks, currently handles 6.35 lakh payments every day for a volume of 4.17 lakh crore through 237 participating banks.
- The average transaction size for RTGS in November 2020 was 57.96 lakh, making it a genuinely broad value payment system.
- RTGS uses the ISO 20022 format, the best-in-class messaging standard for financial transactions. The positive credit validation function of the beneficiary accounts is also available in the RTGS.
- "The introduction of RTGS clocks will provide greater flexibility for companies to make payments and will allow for the implementation of additional settlement periods in additional payment systems. This can also be leveraged to boost Indian financial markets' activities and cross-border payments," RBI added.
