As the system reels under delays in cheque clearance, the Reserve Bank of India has stepped up its monitoring of the issues. The central bank is in constant touch with the National Payments Corporation of India and is supervising the challenges in implementing the new cheque truncation system, two people in the know said.
The problems are currently largely limited to cheque payments through public sector banks and smaller private lenders, the first person quoted above said. Over the last few days complaints of cheque payments getting stuck have risen on social media.
A lot of those complaining are small business owners who see a rise in their payments and settlements right before the festive period begins.
@RBI @nsitharaman Ongoing glitch at Rcc for cheque payment clearance is creating problems for small business owners like me. Cheque instrument deposited for clearance in account 4th oct is still pending, no response from bank as they are also helpless in this issue. Kindly help.
The RBI implemented the first phase of the new CTS starting October 4, with the next phase coming into effect in January 2026. The new system allows for continuous settlement of cheques, compared with the older system of clearing cheques in batches at the end of the day. While the first phase aims at clearing cheque payments within the same day, the next phase will focus on real time settlements.
The main reason for the delay in settlements was that same day settlements were creating a choke point at the bank end, the first person quoted above said. The situation is expected to stabilise further as banks are working on resolving issues with haste, this person added.
"During these initial days, we have encountered some teething issues both at the central system operated by NPCI and at the participating banks, resulting in delays in clearing and in crediting customers' accounts, and a large number of returns," NPCI said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to NPCI most issues have now been resolved, and the central system is stable since Monday. Post implementation, a total of 1.49 crore instruments, amounting to Rs. 8,49,557 crore, have been processed and cleared through the central system, it said in its statement.
Cheque payments have lost some importance over the last few years as the system moves toward more real-time digital payments.
In September, NPCI's cheque truncation system recorded 4.65 crore cheque transactions worth Rs 5.7 lakh crore. In comparison, Unified Payments Interface saw 1,963 crore transactions in September, worth Rs 24.89 lakh crore.
In the same month National Electronic Fund Transfer system recorded over 84 crore transactions worth Rs 42.65 lakh crore, while Real Time Gross Settlement saw 2.8 crore transactions worth Rs 198 lakh crore.
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