Value of cheque transactions down 8.3%

Mumbai: The total value of transactions carried out through cheques across the country in August 2011 amounted to Rs 7.43 lakh crore, down by 8.3 per cent over that in the same month last year.

Banks had cleared cheques worth Rs 8.11 lakh crore in August 2010, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

The number of cheques cleared by banks in August 2011 also went down by 5 per cent from the same month last year.

A total of 11.16 crore cheques were cleared by banks during the month under review, compared to over 11.75 crore in the corresponding month of 2010.

During the April-August period, the total value of the transactions carried out using cheques stood at Rs 41.23 lakh crore, against Rs 41.39 lakh crore in the same period a year ago, a marginal dip of 0.3 per cent.

In addition, a total of 55.50 crore cheques were cleared by banks during the first five months of the current fiscal, a decline of almost 3.5 per cent from 57.53 crore in the April-August period a year-ago.

In August, the Mumbai region reported the highest number of cheque clearances as well as the maximum transaction value for any zone.

Banks in the Mumbai region cleared a total of two crore cheques, with total value of over Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

In the Delhi region, banks reported that 1.26 crore cheques with a total value of a little over Rs 1.01 lakh crore were cleared in August.

The Chennai region stood third in terms of both the parameters. Banks in the region reported a total 66.4 lakh cheque clearances worth over Rs 46,400 crore.

Cheque transactions have been on the decline during the past few years with the growth of electronic transfer medium, according to experts.

The value of cheque transactions in the country declined by 2.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 101.33 lakh crore in 2010-11. Delhi and Bangalore were the only major centres to report a rise in the value of clearances last fiscal.

However, the total number of cheques cleared by banks across the country grew marginally by 0.4 per cent in 2010-11. Over 1.38 lakh crore cheques were cleared by banks across the country last fiscal, as against 1.30 lakh crore in 2009-10.

Source: Financial Express