Cheque Forms

Apart from advising mandatory security features like quality of paper, water mark, bank’s logo etc., on the cheque forms, it has also been directed by Reserve Bank of India that no changes/corrections should be carried out on the cheques (other than for date revalidation purposes, if required). For any change in the Payee’s name, amount in figures or amount in words, fresh cheque forms should be used by customers. This will help banks to identify and control fraudulent alterations.

We know that paper-based cheque clearing, especially after the introduction of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) technology, continues to be the popular mode of initiating payment transactions in the country. But, over a period of time, banks have introduced a variety of cheque designs, patterns, branding (Multi-city and Payable at par cheques), Pre-paid cheque (Magic cheque) etc. In order to reduce the incidence of cheque misuse, tampering and alteration, a number of security features were also introduced from time to time. Lately, introduction of Cheque Truncation System (CTS) at New Delhi for image-based cheque processing, and Speed Clearing for local processing of outstation cheques at 66 RBI notified centers across the country, are some of the fresh initiatives which have led to enhanced security features in cheques issued and handled by the banks.