Claim
The RBI has announced that cheques written in black ink will no longer be accepted, in a move purportedly aimed at enhancing security features and preventing fraudulent activities.
The archived version of the post can be seen here. We received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044), too, requesting us to fact-check it.
Fact
Newschecker saw that the purported Times of India report on RBI’s announcement was dated January 14, 2025, following which we ran a relevant keyword search and looked up the media outlet’s website, where we did not find any article. We also did not find any other news report on such an important announcement, further raising our doubts.
Newschecker next looked up RBI’s official website and did not find an announcement regarding the alleged new rule. We also did not find any announcement regarding cheques on the official website’s notifications section.
We then went through the FAQ section of the RBI website and found a question under the section “Cheque Truncation System”: What care should be taken by customers while writing cheques?
“There are three images of each cheque that are taken in CTS – front Gray Scale, front Black and White and back Black and White. Customers should use image friendly coloured ink to write cheques to facilitate clear image of written information. Further, customer should use permanent ink to prevent fraudulent alternation of contents later. However, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not prescribed specific ink colours to be used for writing cheques.” RBI states, which further confirms that the viral claim and article is false.
We have reached out to the RBI and will update this copy once we receive a response,
Also Read: Viral Image Claiming To Show A Church That Survived California Wildfires Is AI-Generated
Result: False
Source
Times of India website
FAQ section, RBI official website
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