Govt Asks Banks to Reduce Cheque-Based Transactions

To promote electronic payments, the government has asked banks to cut cheque-based transactions by at least 20%. The Finance Minister asked banks to ensure that all payments and disbursements by banks, except sundry payments should be made only electronically.

The aim is just to bring down the number of cheque-based transactions through identified bank branches in 2012-13. The government has been encouraging e-payment transactions and banks must devise suitable monitoring parameters to judge the effectiveness of the e-payment drive.