Even after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced its new cheque clearing system on October 4, promising settlements within two hours, customers in Ahmedabad are still facing delays of four to five days.
The RBI’s system requires banks to scan and clear cheques continuously during business hours instead of in batches, cutting settlement times from two days to a few hours. However, technical issues appear to be affecting implementation in Ahmedabad.
Customers from SBI, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, SBM Bank, and The Kalupur Commercial Co-operative Bank reported delays. In one case, a cheque deposited on Monday in Punjab National Bank was debited from the issuer’s account on Tuesday, but the recipient’s account in Indian Overseas Bank had not been credited even by Thursday.
The delays have disrupted salary payments and business transactions ahead of Diwali. A garments trader in Raipur said, “We planned salary transfers based on the RBI’s two-hour rule, but payments are still stuck. Employees are getting restless.”
Bank officials attributed the delays to integration issues between their servers and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) system. Some banks are advising customers to use digital methods like NEFT or RTGS for faster transfers until the glitches are resolved.