Unclaimed bank deposits surge 26% to Rs 78,213 crore: RBI report
New guidelines issued to help return funds to rightful owners; Centralized web portal launched.
According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Annual Report, Unclaimed bank deposits have surged by 26% over the past year, reaching ₹78,213 crore by the end of March 2024. This significant increase highlights the growing amount of money lying dormant in accounts for over a decade.
Previously, the amount with the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund stood at ₹62,225 crore as of March 2023. Banks, including cooperative banks, are required to transfer unclaimed deposits that have been inactive for 10 or more years to the RBI’s DEA Fund.
To address the issue of unclaimed deposits, the RBI issued comprehensive guidelines earlier this year. These guidelines aim to help account holders by consolidating and rationalizing the instructions related to inoperative accounts and unclaimed deposits. The measures include periodic reviews of such accounts, fraud prevention, a grievance redress mechanism for quick resolution of complaints, and steps to trace customers or their legal heirs for reactivating accounts, settling claims, or closing accounts.
The new guidelines, which went into effect on April 1, 2024, apply to all commercial banks, including Regional Rural Banks, and cooperative banks. These steps are intended to supplement existing efforts by banks and the RBI to reduce the number of unclaimed deposits and return them to their rightful owners or claimants.
Furthermore, to make the procedure easier for depositors, the RBI has created a centralized web platform called UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits Gateway to Access Information). This portal allows depositors to conveniently look for unclaimed deposits from numerous banks in one spot.
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