The country’s banking sector is evolving at a faster pace. There have been many additions and innovations to strengthen the banking network further and increase financial inclusion across the country. At the same time, there are many measures introduced in this sector to improve the banking experience and assistance to customers. The Reserve Bank of India in a similar bid has announced the creation of a centralised portal that will help customers get information about unclaimed deposits.
Here are all the details related to this announcement.
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What are unclaimed deposits?
In simple terms, unclaimed deposits refer to accounts that have been inactive or dormant for a certain period of time and have not been claimed by the account holder or their legal heirs. As per the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), accounts that have not been operated for ten years are considered unclaimed deposits. Such accounts could be savings accounts, current accounts, fixed deposits, recurring deposits, or any other deposit accounts maintained by the banks.
After designating a deposit as an unclaimed deposit, the banks are required to notify the RBI with the details like the number of unclaimed deposits and the amount held in such accounts. If the account holder or legal heir fails to claim the funds within a specified time frame, the bank must transfer the unclaimed funds to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) maintained by the RBI. This fund is utilized for promoting depositors’ interests and creating awareness among them.
What is the RBI announcement for unclaimed deposits?
RBI Governor Mr. Shaktikanta Das on 6th April announced the creation of a centralised portal that will help the depositors or the beneficiaries to search and get back the unclaimed deposits after due verification. This portal will have the details of all the unclaimed deposits from the banks across India and depositors or beneficiaries can access this information. This portal is said to be ready in the coming three to four months post which the process for claiming such rightful deposits will be highlighted.
This portal will enable search results across multiple banks based on user inputs and verified registered mobile numbers. The search results will be further enhanced with the help of AI tools to enable faster and more accurate responses. The search will be password protected to ensure data privacy and avoid any cases of misuse.
What is the current scenario for tracking and accessing unclaimed deposits?
As per the guidelines of the RBI, banks are required to make an annual assessment of their deposits where there has been no activity for more than a year. The details of these deposits have to be given to their respective deposit holders in writing as well as seeking an explanation as to why the account is inactive.
When there has been no activity in any account, the banks are encouraged to go the extra mile and locate the depositors or their legal heirs notifying them of the account status. Even after such efforts if the deposits remain unclaimed for a period of 10 years, such accounts are classified as inoperative accounts and the details of such accounts are displayed on the website of the bank. These details include the name and addresses of the deposit holders.
To claim these deposits the deposit holders or their legal heirs need to search the details first from the website followed by making an application to the home branch of the bank. In case of the death of the deposit holder, the legal heir needs to submit the death certificate of the account holder along with valid KYC documents (as per the guidelines of the individual banks) to assert a valid claim to the unclaimed deposits.
Conclusion
The situation of unclaimed deposits in India is not small. According to RBI records, the number of unclaimed deposits as of February 2023 was to the tune of Rs. 35,012 crores from more than 1 crore accounts which were from public sector banks. SBI was the leading bank in this list with a whopping Rs. 8086 crores followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) which had Rs. 5,340 crores as unclaimed deposits. The sole purpose of RBI to create a centralised portal is to ensure that the accountholders and their legal heir get easy access to the unclaimed deposits rather than scouting the websites of individual banks and their unique processes.
FAQs
The top three banks that have the highest amount of unclaimed deposits are SBI (Rs. 8086 crores), Punjab National Bank (Rs. 5340 crores), and Canara Bank (Rs. 4558 crores)
As per the statement from the RBI governor, the portal for searching the details of unclaimed deposits will be ready in the coming 3-4 months.
The new centralised portal will help the deposit holders and their legal heir(s) search and track the unclaimed deposits from a single gateway for multiple banks rather than looking at the websites of such individual banks.
The details of the unclaimed deposits that are listed on the bank websites include the name and the address of the account holders.
