Your old cheques will remain valid till March 2013 as banks have failed to implement a new system proposed by the central bank, but after that you would need a CTS-2010 standard compliant cheque book or wait longer for clearances.
Cheque Truncation System 2010 or, CTS-2010, is a new standard with uniform cheques with additional safety features for faster clearances through digital sharing of an image and relevant details of cheques between banks.
All CTS-2010 cheques will have standard size, placement of fields and identification marks. Any alterations won't be allowed on these new cheques to maintain image quality and prevent forgery.
The CTS-2010 implementation deadline has been extended for the second time. Initially, banks had mandated to implement the system by October 2012, which was extended to 1 January 2013.
MAIN FEATURES OF CTS-2010 CHEQUES:
> Bank's invisible logo in ultra-violet ink
> Prohibition of corrections in fields
> Fixed placement and lettering for fields such as bank logo, payee's name, date and amount
> Standardised watermark with the words 'CTSINDIA' that can be seen when held against light
> Pantograph with hidden word 'copy' or 'void' that would be visible in photocopies of cheques
> Background has to be a light shade
