A recent press report said that the total value of transactions carried out through cheques throughout the country was down by 8.3 per cent in the month of August, 2011 compared to the same period last year.
According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, cheques worth Rs.8.11 lakh crore were cleared by the banks in August, 2010. The number of cheques which were cleared by the banks during the month of August this year was also less by 5 per cent from the same month last year. The total value of cheques cleared by the banks during the month August under review amounted to Rs.11.16 crore compared to Rs.11.75 crore in the corresponding period last year.
The total value of transactions carried out through cheques aggregated to Rs.41.23 lakh crore during the period of April to August which was 0.3 per cent less compared to Rs.41.39 lakh crore during the same period last year.
In August, the maximum value of cheque transactions and the highest number of cheque clearances were carried out in Mumbai region. Around two crore cheques worth Rs. 1.25 lakh crore were cleared by the banks in the Mumbai region. The Delhi region banks stood second with total cheque transactions of 1.26 crore worth Rs. 1.01 lakh crore and the banks in the banks in the Chennai region stood third in both the parameters.
The RBI has recently hiked the key policy rates which have made it mandatory for banks to hike their lending rates. The hike in lending rates has made home loan and other retail loans dearer to the borrowers.