- Under the new mechanism, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of cheque
To increase customer safety in cheque payments and reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves, the RBI has decided to introduce a mechanism of Positive Pay for all cheques of value ₹50,000 and above.
Under this mechanism, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of cheque. This measure will cover approximately 20% and 80% of total cheques issued in the country by volume and value, respectively.
Operational guidelines for the purpose will be issued, the RBI said.
Under the Positive Pay system, an account holder shares the details of issued cheque to bank like Cheque Number, Cheque date, Payee name, Account number, Amount etc along with an image of the front and reverse side of the cheque, before handing it over to the beneficiary.
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When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the cheque details are compared with the details provided to the bank through Positive Pay. If the details match, the cheque is honoured.
“To enhance safety of cheque payments, it has been decided to introduce a mechanism of Positive Pay for all cheques of value ₹50,000 and above. This will cover approximately 20 per cent and 80 per cent of total cheques by volume and value, respectively,” RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said in a statement.
To promote innovation in the financial sector, the RBI chief said it the central bank will set up an Innovation Hub in India.
A scheme of retail payments in offline mode using cards and mobile devices, and a system of on online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism for digital payments will also be introduced, he added.
