A cheque looks busy but divides cleanly into two groups: the parts the bank prints before you get it, and the parts you fill in.

Pre-printed by the bank

  • Bank name and branch
  • Cheque number — the serial, on the face and in the MICR band
  • Account number and account name
  • IFSC or equivalent branch identifier
  • MICR band — machine-readable, along the bottom edge
  • Security features — void pantograph, watermarks, microtext
  • Field labels — "Pay", "Rupees", "Date"

Filled in by you

  • Date
  • Payee name — after "Pay"
  • Amount in words
  • Amount in figures — in the box
  • Signature

Optionally also the crossing, a "not above" ceiling line, and striking out "or bearer" to make it an order cheque.

The amount, twice

Words and figures both appear, and they must agree. Where they conflict, the amount in words generally governs — but in practice the bank returns the cheque rather than choosing, so a mismatch is a bounce.

This is the single most common technical reason a cheque is dishonoured, and it is the one that printing eliminates: software derives the words from the figures, so the two cannot disagree.

Filling the empty space

Any gap after the amount in words is where someone could add to it. Convention is to fill it — traditionally a line drawn to the end, or ** before and after the amount. ChequeMaster has this as a setting; see general settings.

Does the format vary by country?

The fields are broadly the same everywhere. The layout varies considerably:

  • India — standardised at 202 x 93 mm with boxed date digits under CTS-2010
  • The Gulf — no equivalent standard, and sizes range from 155 x 87 mm to 221 x 115 mm across banks
  • Bahrain — the only Gulf market using boxed date digits
  • The Philippines — long and shallow at 203 x 76 mm, often with a single amount-in-words line

Which is exactly why cheque printing software carries a layout per bank rather than one universal template. See supported bank formats.