The total value of transactions carried out using cheques across the country amounted to Rs 8.53 lakh crore in October, down six per cent compared with the same month last year.
Banks had cleared cheques worth Rs 9.07 lakh crore in October 2010, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The number of cheques cleared by banks in October also went down by 8.9 per cent, compared with the same month last year. In all, 113.4 million cheques were cleared by banks during the month, compared to over 124.4 million in October 2010.
During the April-October period, the total value of transactions carried out using cheques stood at Rs 57.41 lakh crore, as against Rs 58.23 lakh crore in the same period a year ago, a dip of 1.4 per cent.
A total of 779.7 million cheques were cleared by banks during the first seven months of the current financial year, a decline of almost 3.5 per cent from 808.2 million in the April-October period a year ago.
In October, the Mumbai region reported the highest number of cheque clearances, as well as the maximum transaction value for any zone.
Banks in the Mumbai region cleared a total of 21.7 million cheques, with total value of over Rs 1.37 lakh crore.
In the Delhi region, banks reported that 13.1 million cheques, with a total value of over Rs 1.08 lakh crore, were cleared in September.
The Chennai region stood third, with banks reporting a total 6.02 million cheque clearances worth over Rs 44,600 crore.
Cheque transactions have been on the decline over the past few years with the growth of the electronic transfer medium, according to experts.
The value of cheque transactions in the country declined by 2.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 101.33 lakh crore in 2010-11. Delhi and Bangalore were the only major centres to report a rise in the value of clearances last financial year.
However, the total number of cheques cleared by banks across the country grew marginally by 0.4 per cent in 2010-11. Over 1.38 trillion cheques were cleared by banks across the country last financial year, as against 1.30 trillion in 2009-10.
