Unclaimed fortunes: Why ₹1 trillion in investor money remains out of reach
Millions of investors may be walking past their own money—deposits, dividends, and insurance payouts—trapped in unclaimed accounts. Retrieving it is rarely simple, with legal hurdles, lost paperwork, and fragmented systems in the way.
Millions of Indian investors are sitting on a hidden fortune— ₹1 trillion in unclaimed bank deposits, insurance payouts, mutual funds, and dividends, plus 1.72 billion unclaimed shares as of August. Much of it has gone untouched for years, scattered across agencies, with many unaware it exists or unsure how to claim it.
Now, the government is taking steps to change that. On 4 October, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a nationwide campaign to help people trace and claim their unclaimed financial assets.
Over the past few months, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) Authority have been conducting camps to update KYC (know your customer) details and provide assistance to claimants.
The challenge is not just the scale but the complexity. Unclaimed money lies scattered across banks, insurance schemes, mutual funds, small savings plans, and provident funds, forcing investors to navigate multiple channels to track and recover them.
To simplify this maze, the Supreme Court has recently accepted a public interest petition calling for a centralized, Aadhaar-linked, e-KYC portal to consolidate all financial assets held by individuals and their nominees across regulated entities.
Towards a one-stop digital platform
Today, unclaimed assets have to be traced across separate entities.
The RBI’s Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) is where banks transfer the money of their customers’ savings and current accounts that have had no transactions for 10 years, and deposits that have not been claimed even 10 years after their maturity.
Likewise, when dividends paid on shares remain unclaimed for 7 consecutive years, then companies transfer this dividend amount and the shares associated with them to the IEPF which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Historically, companies have sent dividend cheques to their shareholders, which if not encashed repeatedly, have resulted in unclaimed shares and dividends.
Similarly, unclaimed money lying in small savings schemes (such as post office term deposits, senior citizen savings schemes, among others), Employees Provident Fund, Public Provident Fund, life and non-life insurance schemes find their way into the Senior Citizens Welfare Fund.
A unified platform could simplify the process. The account aggregator (AA) framework, launched in September 2021, could provide a foundation. AA entities, regulated by the RBI, enable consent-based data sharing across banks, mutual funds, insurers, and pension funds.
“As of August 2025, over 780 financial institutions, including banks, NBFCs, insurers, mutual funds, pension funds, and brokers are live on the AA network, though some sectors, like insurance and pensions, are still onboarding," said BG Mahesh, CEO, Sahamati, a non-profit industry association in the AA ecosystem.
Sahamati is working closely with regulators to accelerate a unified nominee management system across financial institutions.
Why assets remain unclaimed
Lack of awareness is a major factor.
“In many families, financial decisions are made by men who often don’t inform their spouses or children about their investments. As a result, families are unaware of their assets. Another reason is no joint account holder or missing nominations," says Tasneem Allana, senior ex-banker and senior partner, TruFid Financial Services, a boutique wealth firm.
In the absence of a nominee, a bank or a mutual fund house has no way of contacting the next of kin of a deceased investor.
Khagesh Chitlangiya, founder and director at Jeevantika Innovations, which assists with unclaimed shares recovery, said, "Many times people are unable to communicate the relevant facts of their case to the RTA (registrar and transfer agents) in a structured manner. There is also a lack of awareness on what documents are needed for a claim."
Registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, RTAs maintain records and transfer shares for companies.
Even when investors are aware, costs and complexity can deter them. Professional recovery services charge fees, while legal expenses may be needed for succession certificates or court proceedings if heirs must be established.
Hurdles in claiming different assets
Unclaimed bank money is relatively straightforward.
“Dealing with banks is relatively simple, either through a nomination or indemnity (for smaller amounts). In the case of a deceased account holder, the claim can be made by the nominee or in the absence of one, through a valid will, or else, a succession certificate or a letter of administration which can be cumbersome," Allana explained. Notably, whether claimed before or after transfer to DEAF, the bank handles the process.
Shares and dividends are more complex. Chitlangiya said investors must coordinate with both the RTA and the IEPF Authority once the shares and dividends turn unclaimed. Claims before the seven-year period are dealt with at the RTA level only.
Backlogs at the IEPF exacerbate delays. The IEPF website shows claims filed in December 2023 (non-senior citizen category) are currently being processed.
Shrey Ghosal, director and operations head at Share Samadhan, noted, that while a company is timebound to verify an investor’s claim within 30 days, there is no such time limit for the IEPF Authority. He said that approved claims used to be credited within 15–30 days; now, it can take six to eight months.
The experience of individual investors underscores the ordeal. Chennai-based dentist Aparna Chitharanjan has spent three years pursuing her deceased grandfather’s unclaimed shares for her father and aunt.
“We have spent so much time and money on pursuing this case. We had to file an FIR for the lost share certificates, publish notices in three different gazettes, and get the High Court to adjudge that my father and his sister were the only legal heirs. Opening a joint demat account, too, wasn’t an easy process as my aunt is not an Indian resident. Even after all this, it feels like we haven’t even scratched the surface," said Chitharanjan.
Signs of progress
There are some positive developments. On 6 October, the IEPF Authority released Form IEPF-5, allowing investors to provide details of an authorised representative. A committee has also submitted suggestions to simplify documentation for low-value claims, covering up to ₹500,000 for physical securities, ₹15 lakh for demat securities, and dividends up to ₹10,000.
Yet, awareness remains the critical bottleneck. “Because of so many negative stories, 90% of people don’t even make a claim," Chitlangiya says.
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