SBI account holder? Check out if your cheque books will become invalid from January 1, 2018

Are you an SBI account holder – particularly those of its former associate banks – then you need to hurry up as only a few days are left to get your old cheque books replaced with the new SBI cheque books bearing the changed IFS codes as your old cheque books will become invalid from January 1, 2018. The State Bank of India has already tweeted that “the validity of cheques of former Associate Banks has been extended till 31st December, 2017. Apply now for a new SBI cheque book.” If you have already not applied for a new SBI check book, then do this now to avoid any inconvenience. You can apply for the new cheque books using Internet banking, mobile banking, through ATMs or by visiting your bank branch.

It may be noted that earlier the customers of SBI’s erstwhile associate banks – which included State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Raipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad and Bharatiya Mahila Bank – had been asked to apply for new SBI cheque books latest by September 30, 2017. However, later the date had been extended by the bank to December 31, 2017 for the convenience of customers.

You also need to know that in a major move, SBI has recently changed the names, codes and IFS codes of about 1300 branches, particularly the branches of banks which got merged with it some time back. These include the branches located in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Patna and Bhopal, among others. The bank has also published on its website the full list of all those branches whose names and codes have been changed.

For example, the name of Ahmedabad-based Gopipura branch has now been changed to Surat Main (Chowk Bazar), while the branch code has been changed to 488 from the earlier 2649. Similarly, its IFSC code has been changed to SBIN00488 from the earlier IFSC code of SBIN02649. Likewise, the Delhi-based IFCI Tower branch name has been changed to Nehru Place branch, while its branch code has been changed to 04688 from the earlier code of 32602. Naturally the new IFSC code is now SBIN04688 as against the earlier SBIN32602. This means that you need to be careful and check the changed names and branch codes while doing any transaction with any of the 1295 branches whose names and codes have been changed.