Some Useful Info.

CA Ayush Agarwal (Kolkata-Pune-Mumbai) (27186 Points)

24 March 2010  

 

CUTTING-ALTERATION-CORRECTION ON CHEQUE NOT ALLOWED-RBI

 

 

Recently RBI(Reserve Bank of India) has issued a notification .In this Notification RBI has released some new features to be added in Cheque leafs in 2010.Further RBI has also directed that there should be no cutting/correction/alteration in amount in Figures ,Amount in words ,or in Payee name or any where else on the cheque except on date and that is only for date validation(extension of cheque date) purpose.And if there is cutting /alteration in cheque other than date extension then cheque will be of no use.Customer has to issue fresh cheque if there is cutting in figure,words,payee name or bank account.



Hold ..............This feature is not applicable from today but it will be made applicable only in near future.I have Just alerted you to make a habit of issuing clean cheques without cutting .what RBI says about these feature is given below



Features that is to be included in New cheque issue & processing instructions are given below

Mandatory features

1.                             Prohibiting alterations / corrections on cheques : 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 (amount in words), etc., fresh cheque forms should be used by customers. This would help banks to identify and control fraudulent alterations. 

2.                             Printing of account field : All cheques should, as far as possible, be issued with the account number field pre-printed. This should be considered must for current account holders and corporate customers.

3.                            VOID pantograph (At Printing Stage): Pantograph with hidden / embedded “COPY”or “VOID” feature shall be included in the cheques. 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.

4.                            Paper (At Manufacturing Stage) : Status quo shall be maintained in relation to paper specifications as it exists currently. Details of current specifications are contained in the document 'Mechanised cheque processing using MICR technology - Procedural Guidelines', available at - https://www.rbi.org.in/scripttts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=4551.Additionally, paper should be image friendly and have protection against alterations by having chemical sensitivity to acids, alkalis, bleaches and solvents giving a visible result after a fraudulent attack. CTS-2010 Standard paper should not glow under Ultra-Violet (UV) light i.e.,it should be UV dull. This shall ensure that the feel of cheques is uniform across banks.

5.                            Watermark (At Manufacturing Stage) : All cheques shall carry a standardised watermark, with the words “CTS-INDIA” which can be seen when held against any light source. This would make it difficult for any fraudster to photocopy or print an instrument since this paper would be available only to security printers handling cheque printing. The watermark should be oval in shape and diameter could be 2.6 to 3.0 cms. Each cheque must hold atleast one full watermark. Sample watermarks that would be used in CTS will be finalised in consultation with Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) / National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and could (illustratively) appear as under -

6.                            Bank’s logo printed with invisible ink (ultra-violet ink) (At Printing Stage) :Bank’s logo shall be printed in ultra-violet (UV) ink. The logo will be captured by / visible in UV-enabled scanners / lamps. It will establish genuineness of a cheque. 

7.                            Field placements of a cheque : Placement of significant fields on the cheque forms shall be mandated. However, placement of additional fields shall be left to banks. This will enable data capturing by Optical / Image Character Recognition (OCR / ICR) engines in offline mode and help banks in automating their payment processes. A sample cheque with recommended field placements is placed at  below.

8.                            Mandating colours and background : Light / Pastel colours shall be mandated for cheques so that Print / Dynamic Contrast Ratio (PCR / DCR) is more than 60% for ensuring better quality and content of images. The colours will be finalised in consultation with IBA / NPCI.

9.                            Clutter free background : Background of cheques shall be kept as clutter free as possible for improving quality and clarity of images. 

10.                       Use of UV feature on cheque images : Though bank’s logo in UV ink is a strong deterrent for forgery and duplicate cheques, there are challenges in terms of increased image size, stabilisation of UV technology in CTS environment, availability of UV-enabled scanners, etc., in implementing this feature. However, the benefits outweigh the limitations and hence this feature shall be incorporated. Presenting banks can subject instruments beyond a threshold value to UV verification using the UV lamps currently available for currency note verification. In case UV technology stabilises in future, the UV image view could be incorporated in CTS as an additional image view