Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 · Chapter VII: Of Discharge From Liability on Notes, Bills and Cheques
Section 89: Payment of instrument on which alteration is not apparent
In plain words
If an instrument was materially altered but does not look altered, or a cheque does not appear crossed or to have had a crossing removed, a person or bank who pays it according to its apparent terms and otherwise in due course is discharged, and the payment cannot be questioned for that reason.
- For a truncated cheque, any difference between the image and the cheque is a material alteration, and the bank or clearing house must ensure the image is exact.
- A bank or clearing house receiving the image must verify with the sender that it is exactly the same.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
[(1)] Where a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque has been materially altered but does not appear to have been so altered, or where a cheque is presented for payment which does not at the time of presentation appear to be crossed or to have had a crossing which has been obliterated, payment thereof by a person or banker liable to pay, and paying the same according to the apparent tenor thereof at the time of payment and otherwise in due course, shall discharge such person or banker from all liability thereon; and such payment shall not be questioned by reason of the instrument having been altered or the cheque crossed.
[(2) Where the cheque is an electronic image of a truncated cheque, any difference in apparent tenor of such electronic image and the truncated cheque shall be a material alteration and it shall be the duty of the bank or the clearing house, as the case may be, to ensure the exactness of the apparent tenor of electronic image of the truncated cheque while truncating and transmitting the image.
(3) Any bank or a clearing house which receives a transmitted electronic image of a truncated cheque, shall verify from the party who transmitted the image to it, that the image so transmitted to it and received by it, is exactly the same.]
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.