Cheque Clearance Now Stable, Says NPCI After Initial Delays in Continuous Clearing System Rollout

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has said that the country’s cheque clearance system has now become stable after some initial delays that followed the launch of the new continuous clearing process.

As per the directions of the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI), the cheque clearing system was recently upgraded from a batch-based process, known as T+1, to a continuous clearing system (T+0). This means that cheques are now cleared on the same day instead of the next working day, allowing customers to receive payments faster. The change came into effect on October 4, 2025.

NPCI said that soon after the transition, some operational issues were noticed both at the central system and at participating banks. These problems caused delays in clearing cheques and crediting money to customers’ accounts, as well as a higher number of cheque returns.

However, NPCI said that most of these issues have now been fixed and that the system has been functioning smoothly since October 13, 2025.

In an official statement, NPCI said:

“As per RBI's directions, the cheque clearing system has transitioned from batch processing (T+1) to continuous clearing system (T+0) to enable faster cheque clearance. This change was implemented on October 4, 2025.

Post implementation, a total of 1.49 crore instruments, amounting to Rs. 8,49,557 crore, have been processed and cleared through the central system.

During these initial days, we have encountered some teething issues both at the central system operated by NPCI and at the participating banks, resulting in delays in clearing and in crediting customers' accounts, and a large number of returns.

Most of these issues have now been resolved, and the central system is stable since Monday, October 13, 2025. NPCI is working with banks to address any remaining issues, to ensure same-day credit for the presented cheques.”

NPCI said it continues to work closely with banks to ensure that customers experience faster and more reliable cheque processing under the new continuous clearing system.