To avoid inconvenience in remitting income tax dues on account of last minute rush, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday said it has designated several banks to accept payment from the assessees in cash or by cheque.

"... the public is required to wait in queues in the RBI for unnecessarily long periods. To obviate the inconvenience involved, assessees in the city are advised in their own interest to avoid last minute rush by remitting their income-tax dues sufficiently in advance to the due date," RBI said in a circular.

In addition to RBI, State Bank of India and other public sector banks, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank branches at Delhi/New Delhi are also authorised to accept payment of income tax dues in cash or by cheque, it said.

"The assessees may take advantage of these arrangements made for their convenience," RBI said.

RBI issued the circular as the rush for remitting income-tax dues into the central bank becomes heavy towards the end of March/June/September/December and makes it difficult for the central bank to cope with the pressure of receipts.