What is a MICR code on a cheque leaf?

MICR is an acronym for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. The technology of MICR is primarily used by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of cheques. The MICR code is located on the bottom of a cheque leaf. The code line in a cheque is the clear White Band portion at the bottom of the cheque which is exclusively meant for MICR (Magnetic Ink Code Recognition) code numbers.

In the code line of a cheque, the first group of 6 digits indicates the unique cheque number issued by the bank to the account holder. The second group of 9 digits indicates the city code (first 3 digits aligned with PIN code used for postal address) next three-digit represent the specific bank code, last 3 digits represent the branch code of the bank in the cheque processing center. The next group of 2 digits like 10, 11, 12, and so on indicates the type of instrument like SB, Current account, CC account, etc. A customer should be careful while writing a cheque the code line should not be disturbed to avoid rejection of his cheque at the processing center due to technical reasons.

The MICR reader used in the mechanized cheque processing facilitates reading the magnetic ink characters on the cheque leaf efficiently which have been obscured by other marks like stamps and signatures. The ink used for printing MICR digits is a precise magnetic ink which makes it difficult to forge the instrument by the fraudsters.