New India cheques from Jan 1

As per guidelines issued by India’s central bank – the Reserve Bank of India – there have been certain changes made to the cheques issued by banks.

While Indian banks have been issuing new cheque books with the revised features since August 2011, if you happened to obtain your cheque book prior to that, chances are that your cheques will not be valid after December 31, 2012.

According to the RBI’s new guidelines for cheques [https://unionbudget2012.webasyst.net/files/dd1ef720/ZmlsZT1NakEx&W=FL], all cheques will now carry a standardised watermark, with the words ‘CTS-INDIA’ which can be seen when held against any light source.

In addition, every cheque will include a VOID pantograph with hidden / embedded “COPY” or “VOID” feature. RBI guidelines mandate that this feature should not be visible on the scanned image at the resolution specified in CTS but should be clearly visible in photocopies and scanned colour images as resolution used in such cases would be above the prescribed CTS standards.

“This would act as a deterrent against colour photocopy or scanned colour images of a cheque,” the RBI regulations state.

In addition, new RBI guidelines prohibit any kind of alteration or corrections on the cheques, which were earlier permitted with a signature of the holder next to the alteration. “No changes / corrections should be carried out on the cheques (other than for date validation purposes, if required). For any change in the payee’s name, courtesy amount (amount in figures) or legal amount in words), etc., fresh cheque forms should be used by customers. This would help banks to identify and control fraudulent alterations,” the guidelines specify.

MUST READ:

UAE's NRI dilemma: Buy India property or not?
 

NRI update: Salary hikes, bonuses next year

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.