Summary of this article
India is sitting on thousands of crores worth of unclaimed deposits and investments. With the government’s new “Your Money, Your Right” campaign, the government is trying to make it easier for people to check and claim what belongs to them. From the RBI’s UDGAM portal for bank deposits to Irdai’s Bima Bharosa portal for insurance, and IEPF for shares and dividends, multiple platforms now exist to trace unclaimed funds. Keeping documents in order, updating KYC, and informing family members are key to ensuring that your savings never go unclaimed.
The launch of the "Aapki Punji, Aapka Adhikar" (Your Money, Your Right) campaign by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has once again brought the spotlight on unclaimed deposits in India. According to earlier estimates by the government, unclaimed savings and investments across banks, insurance, provident funds, and markets run into several lakh crore rupees. These are not small figures; they represent people's hard-earned money that has simply gone untouched, often due to a lack of awareness or missing paperwork.
So, how do you know if some of this money is yours or belongs to your family? And what should you do to get it back? Here's a straightforward guide.
What are unclaimed deposits?
A bank deposit is termed 'unclaimed' if there has been zero activity with an account, like no withdrawal, deposit, or request, for 10 years or more. These include savings accounts, current accounts, and fixed deposits.
Unclaimed insurance funds, meanwhile, are policy amounts not claimed by policyholders or their nominees within six months of becoming payable.
Shares, dividends, and mutual fund proceeds left untouched for over seven years also get classified as unclaimed and are transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
Why do funds go unclaimed?
If it's their own money, why do such funds remain unclaimed by people? The reasons are surprisingly common:
After the passing away of the family head, or say, insurance policy holder/account holders, often other members of the family are not aware of bank accounts or policies under the deceased's name.
Change of address or contact details can also lead to unclaimed deposits if the same is not updated with the bank or insurer.
Nominees not being added.
Fixed deposit receipts or share certificates getting misplaced
Sometimes, complex claim processes also deter families from claiming the unclaimed amount
How to check if you have unclaimed deposits
Finding out whether you have unclaimed deposits is not as complicated as it sounds, though it does require a bit of effort. For instance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put together a centralised portal called UDAAN (Unclaimed Deposits – Access and Awareness), launched in April 2023. This is where you can begin. The portal lets you search across multiple banks with just your name, PAN, voter ID, or date of birth. If the system flags a match, it will guide you towards the concerned bank where the deposit is lying.
Apart from the RBI portal, most banks also maintain their own unclaimed deposit search options on their websites where the account holders can check the same by putting in basic details like name of the account holder or nominee and the branch where the account was maintained.
If you find a history of unclaimed deposits, the next step is to approach the bank directly with the required documents and identity proofs.
When it comes to unclaimed deposits for insurance, provident fund or mutual fund, the process is different. You are required to check the same on the regulator's website, for example:
Irdai's Bima Bharosa for insurance
EPFO's online claim service, official portal for provident funds
Sebi's investor service portals for mutual funds and listed securities
What documents would you need to claim the unclaimed deposits?
The account or policy holders (or nominees) typically need the following documents during the process of claiming deposits:
Proof of identity (like PAN, Aadhaar, or Passport)
Proof of address (for this, you can use Identity cards or electricity bills, whichever is acceptable by the authority)
Account or policy details (such as fixed deposit receipts, policy documents, folio numbers, etc.)
In case of legal heirs, documents such as the death certificate of the account holder and a succession certificate or legal heirship document would be needed.
In order to ensure that unclaimed deposits can be later claimed by family/legal heirs, people should make sure to add nominees for every account, investment, or insurance policy.
Moreover, it is also important to share these details with family, especially policy numbers, FD receipts, and investment folios to avoid any procedural issues later.
