SC seeks govt, RBI replies to plea for unified portal to track unclaimed assets

The Supreme Court (SC) has agreed to examine a public interest petition seeking the creation of a centralized digital platform that would allow individuals to track all their financial assets—whether active, dormant or unclaimed—across banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, and other regulated entities.

Depending on how the petition moves forward and its eventual outcome, it could be a boost to efforts to free such locked-up capital in millions of accounts. Financial experts have for long pointed out how unclaimed capital makes savers and their families poorer and results in a drain on productivity in the economy.

The petition, filed by social activist Aakash Goel, highlighted that unclaimed money to the tune of ₹3.5 trillion remains inaccessible because of scattered accounts, missing nominee details, and the absence of a unified registry.

The plea called for the creation of a secure, Aadhaar-linked, e-KYC-based portal that would consolidate all financial assets held by individuals and their nominees across regulated entities. It also asked that financial institutions be required to capture nominee details for every asset and establish a time-bound grievance redressal mechanism for claimants.

'Your savings, your right'

The problem of unclaimed financial assets has the attention at the highest levels of the government. Launching an awareness campaign titled ‘Aapki poonji, aap ka adhikaar’ (your savings, your right) in Gandhinagar on Saturday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “Unclaimed deposits, insurance proceeds, dividends, mutual fund balances, and pensions are not mere entries on paper; they represent the hard-earned savings of ordinary families — savings that can support education, healthcare, and financial security.”

On Monday, a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notices to the ministry of consumer affairs and key financial regulators including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai), National Savings Institute, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It directed them to file their responses in four weeks and listed the matter for further hearing once the replies were received.

Goel initially had approached the Delhi High Court in January. While the court acknowledged the importance of the issue, it said judicial intervention was unnecessary and that the petitioner should approach the authorities concerned. Goel then moved the Supreme Court, arguing that huge amounts of citizens’ money remained inaccessible across banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, and pension schemes.

Senior counsel Mukta Gupta, appearing for Goel, told the court, “The Delhi High Court had recognised the gravity of the problem but left it to the authorities to consider a policy. However, no concrete action has been taken, and the funds of millions remain trapped.”

Details matter, say experts

Creating a unified portal for unclaimed assets is an overdue mechanism, one expert said, pointing to funds created in the past to resolve the problem such as the Depositor's Education & Awareness Fund (DEAF) created in 2013, Senior Citizen Welfare Fund (SCWF) of 2015, and Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF) in 2017 to return unclaimed assets to citizens. “Only when such data is unified can they take meaningful, proactive steps to trace and inform the rightful beneficiaries,” said Sumeet Goyal, co-founder, 3S Fintech, an unclaimed assets recovery platform. It's time that India has "a system that alerts beneficiaries proactively about unclaimed assets so that the recovery process can be begin."

Rajat Dutta, founder of Inheritance Needs Services, said such a platform if it comes to being will address the first hurdle legal heirs face: identifying assets they may not know exist across different institutions. However, he cautioned that the platform could be vulnerable to fraudulent claims. “In IEPF, fraudsters have impersonated rightful owners and claimed assets due to weak verification mechanisms. With multiple heirs, such fraud becomes even easier, as anyone with the deceased’s details could attempt access,” he said.

Goel’s petition said there were more than 92.2 million inoperative bank accounts in India, with an average balance of ₹3,918. Unclaimed financial assets across banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, provident funds, and small savings schemes were estimated at more than ₹3.5 trillion, it added. Many of these assets belonged to deceased individuals, with legal heirs unaware because of missing nominee details and the lack of a unified tracking system.

The plea also referenced DEAF under RBI, IEPF under the corporate affairs ministry, and the SCWF under the Finance Act, 2015. DEAF and IEPF together hold over ₹1.6 trillion, nearly three times India’s health budget and twice the education budget, highlighting the scale of the problem.

Goel argued that the absence of a unified registry violated citizens’ rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution by denying them transparency, equal treatment, and timely access to their property.

Shipra Singh, Jash Kriplani and Aprajita Sharma contributed to this story.