Page 53 - Banking Finance July 2019

RBI CIRCULAR

platform, including the process of customer means the dealing branch of a bank accredited to a
registration, shall be issued by the CCIL. Customers can Ministry/ Department/Treasury/Sub-Treasury on
obtain further details about the platform on the CCIL which the cheques are drawn. The ‘presenting bank’
website (https://www.ccilindia.com) means a branch of any bank where the cheques are
presented for payment by the clients. Both the
7. The customer registration process on the platform shall
presenting banks and drawee banks would continue
commence on July 01, 2019 and the platform shall be
to discharge their duties prescribed under various
available for transactions from August 05, 2019.
Acts/Regulations/Rules such as the Negotiable
8. The directions contained in this circular have been
Instruments Act 1881, Bankers’ Books Evidence Act
issued under section 45W of the Reserve Bank of India
1891, Uniform Regulations and Rules for Bankers’
Act, 1934 and are without prejudice to permissions/
Clearing Houses, Procedural Guidelines for Cheque
approvals, if any, required under any other law.
Truncation System etc. with respect to payment of
cheques. The government cheques would
Yours faithfully
henceforth be paid in CTS clearing solely based on
(T. Rabi Sankar)
their electronic images. The paid cheques in physical
Chief General Manager
form would be retained by the presenting bank.
c. In case any drawee bank desires to verify the
Discontinuation of the requirement of
government cheque in physical form before passing
Paper to Follow (P2F) for State it for payment, the image would be returned
Government Cheques unpaid under the reason “present with document”.
The presenting bank on such instances shall ensure
RBI/2018-19/216
that the instrument is presented again in the next
June 20, 2019
applicable clearing session without any reference
1. With a view to enhancing efficiency in cheque clearing, to the account holder (payee).
Reserve Bank has introduced Cheque Truncation d. The presenting banks are required to preserve the
System (CTS) for clearance of cheques, facilitating the physical instruments in their custody securely for
presentation and payment of cheques without their a period of 10 years as required under Procedural
physical movement. P2F has been discontinued for CG Guidelines for CTS. In case some specific cheques
cheques with effect from February 2016. Taking this
are required for the purpose of any investigation,
initiative forward, it has now been decided in
enquiry, etc., under the law, they may be
consultation with the Office of the Comptroller &
preserved beyond 10 years. Drawee banks shall
Auditor General of India (C&AG), Government of India,
make necessary arrangements to preserve the
to dispense with the current requirement of forwarding images of all government cheques for a period of
the paid State Government cheques in physical form 10 years with themselves or through the National
(commonly known as P2F) to the State Government Archival System put in place by National Payments
departments/treasuries. Corporation of India (NPCI).
2. Accordingly, it has been decided to modify the
e. The government cheques paid by a drawee bank
“Memorandum of Instructions on Accounting and
across its counter by way of cash withdrawal or
Reconciliation – State Government transactions
transfer also need to be truncated and preserved for
(February 2003)” as under:
10 years. Adequate safeguards shall be built to ensure
a. This circular may be treated as an addendum to that these images are captured separately by the
the instructions and inserted as para 5.16 of the drawee banks and not mixed up with the images of
Memorandum of Instructions titled “Procedure to the instruments received for payment in clearing. A
be followed by Agency Bank branches for common electronic file containing the images of all
discontinuing P2F for cheque based payments of
the paid cheques shall be created on a daily basis for
State Governments”.
onward transmission to State Government
b. In Cheque Truncation System, the ‘drawee bank’ Departments/Treasuries/Sub-Treasuries.

BANKING FINANCE | JULY | 2019 | 53