The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decidedly introduced a “positive pay system” for cheques two months ago. Under this new rule, reconfirmation for the key will be needed for every payment beyond Rs. 50,000. This new rule for cheque payments will come into effect from 1st January 2021. The announcement of this new rule was done by RBI Governor, Shantikanta Das. This was done to keep consumer safety in check and decrease fraud cases concerning cheque payments.
The system of Positive Pay is technically a tool to detect fraud. It matches certain information that may be related to the cheque during the clearing of it. These include the cheque number, account number, and any other details against a list of cheques that have been previously issued and checked by the issuer.
Here are five things that we need to know about the rules of the cheque payments:
- The concept of Positive Pay mainly contains a process of confirmation of the details of the cheque which makes big payments.
- Under this process of Positive Pay, the issuer of the cheque can submit his or her cheque electronically, through certain channels like SMS, apps, internet banking, ATM, etc., and certain minimum details of that cheque such as the date, amount, name of the beneficiary / payee, etc.) to the bank drawing the amount, details of which are cross-checked properly. Any discrepancy is caught and the cheque is blocked.
- National Payments Corporation of India has been responsible for developing the facility and making it available to the interested banks.
- While applying for this facility at the discretion of the account holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in cases of cheques for amounts of ₹5,00,000 and above.
- Lastly, only the cheques which fulfill the above-mentioned instructions will be accepted into the system while any cheque which doesn’t, shall not be accepted.
