Cheque Truncation System Notified Documents

GRID CTS Centres

Southern Grid Centres

Western Grid Centres

Northern Grid Centres

• Southern Grid
• Western Grid
• Northern Grid

• Southern Grid
• Northern Grid
• Western Grid

Local Cheques

The service/ processing/ maintenance charges levied from other member banks by the bank managing a Clearing House are as follows -

MICR Cheque Processing Centers (MICR CPCs):

The processing charges for the instruments processed at MICR-CPCs shall be recovered on a monthly basis by debit to the accounts of the member banks maintained with the bank managing the Clearing House, or by any other method, at the rate prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India from time to time. The bank managing a MICR Cheque Processing Centre shall not levy any other extra charges, for a service/ facility relating to the clearing process other than the rate prescribed by Reserve Bank of India towards processing charges. Currently the charges prescribed are @ ` 2.50 per cheque (`1/- from the presenting bank and `1.50 from the drawee bank).

Cheques processed through Cheque Truncation System (CTS)

The entities managing a CTS Centre shall not levy any other extra charges, for a service/ facility relating to the clearing process other than the rate prescribed by Reserve Bank of India towards processing charges. Currently the charges prescribed are @ Rs.1.50 per cheque (`0.50 from the presenting bank and `1.00 from the drawee bank).

Other Clearing Houses:

Clearing Houses other than MICR CPCs collect maintenance charges from the member banks towards various expenses incurred for operating the clearing house. These maintenance charges are calculated based on the actual expenditure incurred by the bank managing the clearing house for clearing operations and the same is equally shared by all the member banks on a no-profit basis.

Charges for banks managing back-up clearing centers (MICR and non-MICR centers)

Banks managing back-up clearing centers (primary or alternate) shall get themselves compensated by the member banks of the Clearing House for the relative investment made by them on computer hardware / software and other operating expenses on equal sharing basis. Additionally, the back-up banks may also recover expenses incurred by them during contingencies / disruptions / contingency drills from the member banks of the Clearing House. The expenses recovered must be reasonable and should be approved by the President of the Clearing House.

Charges to customer on cheque collections

Charges for clearing cheques, both local and outstation, are levied by banks based on their collection policies and will be disclosed in the individual Cheque Collection Policies framed and placed on their website.

Prior to CTS clearing, instruments used to get settled in MICR clearing. There were total 66 MICR centers across India. These MICR centers used to undertake clearing & settlement in their local geography. The intra MICR clearing was considered outstation clearing. During MICR clearing physical instruments were travelling for clearing to respective MICR center. The typical flow for clearing is explained in next paragraph.

Customer deposits an instrument in drop box/ collection point / Bank-Branch. All instruments received before a cut-off time are collected & physically transported to service branch of the presenting bank. The instruments would get sorted as per MICR clearing centers & would physically travel to corresponding MICR clearing center i.e. Local or outstation clearing. At MICR centers respective bank would present and collect their instruments. These would be taken through the same route to respective bank-branch for processing. The rejected instruments would traverse the same route bank to presenting bank-branch. The return cycle of rejected instruments would be completed next day & settlement is completed on completion of return cycle. The customer would get funds on completion of settlement process.

In CTS scenario, the physical instrument is truncated at presenting bank end (either at branch level or service branch level). The images & data of collected instrument captured at presenting bank would travel electronically to drawee bank for processing same day. The return cycle would be completed next day. The return cycle would be completed next day & settlement is completed on completion of return cycle. The customer would get funds on completion of settlement process. Further all clearing locations are divided in 3 regional grids. All Clearing locations are of a grid are settled together on T+1 basis.

The typical timelines are as follows:

Customer Service

• Extended cut off time for acceptance of Customer Cheques by banks
• Easy retrieval of information
• Reduced timelines for clearing

Operational Benefit

• MICR amount encoding not required
• Reconciliation difference eliminated - MICR and Image data travel together
• No cheques being lost/tampered/pilfered
• No risk of any manipulation of data and image during transit
• CTS 2010 standards leading to enhanced security and automation

Commercial Benefit

• Cost involved in paper movement eliminated
• Grid implementation allowing better liquidity management for banks

Fraud Prevention Mechanism Provided

• Manipulation of data and image during transit is prevented by digital signature / encryption.
• CTS 2010 standards lead to enhanced security (Pl refer to attached NPCI circular for CTS 2010 standard)
• MICR reject repair flag

• Annexure 3 - NAS Onboarding Guidelines
• Annexure 1 - CTS NAS SLA
• Annexure 2 - User Request form
• Annexure 4 Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Act 2015