Banks to Clear Cheques Within Hours Under New RBI Rule from Oct 4

Aug 14, 2025 - Good news for account holders and businesses. From October 4, 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will implement a new rule in cheque clearing. Cheques will be cleared within hours instead of the current up-to-two-working-days rule.

This reform in the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) by the RBI will be majorly benefit account holders and businesses. A circular issued by the RBI for introduction of Continuous Clearing and Settlement on Realisation in CTS said, "It has been decided to transition CTS to continuous clearing and settlement on realisation in two phases. Phase 1 shall be implemented on October 4, 2025 and Phase 2 on January 3, 2026.”

All banks have been advised to make their customers adequately aware of the changes in the cheque clearing process. Banks have also been told to be in readiness to participate in continuous clearing in CTS on the above dates.

According to the RBI, the cheques received by drawee banks between 10:00 am and 11:00 am will have to be confirmed - positively or negatively - by them by 2:00 pm (3 hours from 11:00 am). If no confirmation is provided within the 3-hour window, the cheque will be treated as deemed approved and included for settlement at 2:00 pm.