Banks will conduct special clearing operations to close Reserve Bank of India on March 31

RBI has said that banks will conduct special clearing operations to close government accounts on March 31, which is the last day of the current financial year.

The Reserve Bank has issued instructions to the banks to operate smoothly and compulsorily ask them to participate in it.

With regard to the annual closing of transactions relating to accounts of the Central and State Governments, special measures have been taken for 2020-21, with the RBI directing all member banks to maintain adequate balance in their clearing settlement accounts.

In a notification addressed to the member banks of the Reserve Bank of India, urban and state co-operative banks, payment banks, small finance banks as well as NPCI, the RBI has stated that the normal clearing time, which comes into effect on March 31, 2021, will be followed.

RBI said that for the convenience of keeping an account of all government transactions for the current financial year 2020-21 by March 31, 2021, it was decided to specifically clear for government scrutiny in three CTS grids. is.

Under this, the presentation clearing will take place between 1700 and 1730 hrs and the return clearing will take place between 1900 and 1930 in three CTS (Check Truncation System) grids located in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

“It is mandatory for all banks to participate in a special clearing operation on March 31, 2021. Under the respective CTS grid, all member banks are required to keep their inward clearing processing infrastructure open and maintain adequate balance during special clearing hours. “To clear the clearing account, to fulfill the obligations arising from special clearing,” the regulator said.

Further, it has asked the banks under the relevant CTS grid to follow the instructions issued by the chairman of the respective CTS grid.

Under the CTS system, there is no need to physically present a check for withdrawal, instead an electronic image is being transmitted to the payment branch through the clearing house with the relevant data.

This eliminates the cost of movement of physical checks and reduces the time for collection and withdrawal of checks.

RBI said that all government transactions made by agency banks should be audited for 2020-21.

The central bank said that all agency banks should keep their designated branches open for counter transactions related to government transactions by the time of normal functioning on March 31, 2021.

“Transactions through the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems will continue for 2400 hours on March 31, 2021.

“Special clearing will be done for collection of government checks on March 31, 2021, for which the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems (DPSS), RBI will issue necessary instructions,” he said.

With the reporting of central and state government transactions to the RBI, which involves uploading GST / e-Receipt Goods files, the reporting window of 31 March 2021 will be extended and kept open for 1200 hours on 1 April 2021, RBI he said .