NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India’s Annual Report, released on Thursday, revealed that
unclaimed deposits
in
banks
have surged by 26% year-on-year, reaching Rs 78,213 crore by the end of March 2024 from Rs 62,225 crore reported a year ago.
Banks, including cooperative banks, are required to transfer unclaimed
deposits
of
account holders
that have remained dormant for 10 years or more to the
RBI
‘s Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund.
The central bank, earlier this year, issued extensive instructions in an effort to assist account holders and streamline the existing guidelines on inoperative accounts. These guidelines cover various aspects of classifying accounts and deposits as inoperative or unclaimed, as well as measures to be implemented by banks.
The RBI advised banks to conduct periodic reviews of such accounts, implement measures to prevent fraud, establish grievance redress mechanisms for swift complaint resolution, and take steps to trace customers of inoperative accounts or unclaimed deposits, including their nominees or legal heirs, for account reactivation, claim settlement, or closure.
These instructions were expected to complement the current initiatives taken by banks and the Reserve Bank to decrease the amount of unclaimed deposits within the banking system and return such deposits to their rightful owners/ claimants.
The updated instructions, which came into effect on April 1, 2024, are applicable to all commercial banks (including Regional Rural Banks) and all cooperative banks.
To make it easier for depositors to search for unclaimed deposits across multiple banks in one centralized location, the Reserve Bank developed a web portal called UDGAM – Unclaimed Deposits Gateway to Access inforMation.
