The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred the rollout of the second phase of its faster cheque clearance framework, which was scheduled to take effect from January 3, 2026.
Under the second phase, banks would have been required to approve or reject cheques within three hours of receiving their images. With the rollout time delayed, this will allow banks more time to streamline their operations.
In a circular issued on December 24, the RBI said the second phase of the Continuous Clearing and Settlement (CCS) framework has been postponed until further notice.
The first phase of the system, which was implemented earlier this year, will continue to operate. Notably, the new system had run into early hiccups, leaving bank customers waiting for more than two days for their cheques to be cleared, instead of clearance in a few hours.
The RBI has also revised the working hours for cheque processing. The cheque presentation window will now be open from 9 am to 3 pm, while banks will be able to confirm or reject cheques between 9 am and 7 pm.
From October 4, 2025, the first phase introduced a single, continuous presentation window during the day.
Banks scan cheques and send their images and MICR data to the clearing house as they receive them, instead of waiting for fixed clearing batches.
Once the drawee bank receives the cheque image, it reviews the details and sends its approval or rejection electronically. If no response is sent by the end of the confirmation window, the cheque is treated as approved and settled.
The second phase was meant to make cheque clearance even faster. Banks would have had three hours to approve or reject a cheque after receiving its image.
If a bank failed to respond within this time, the cheque would be automatically approved and settled. This would have pushed banks to process cheques more quickly and helped customers get their money sooner.