BackWhat will happen to unclaimed deposits in banks current and savings accounts from June 1?
From June 1st, a new campaign will be commenced by banks to trace and settle unclaimed deposits across the country. Balances in current and savings account which are untouched for 10 years are called as unclaimed deposits.
PremiumIf you haven't used your banks saving and current accounts for at least 10 years, and do have some deposits balance in them, then starting June 1, 2023, a key change will be happening for these accounts. Firstly, the deposits idle in these non-operated banks are called as unclaimed deposits. For these unclaimed deposits, RBI has launched a '100 Days 100 Pays’ campaign and during these period banks are required to settle these deposits. But there is a catch!
According to RBI's guidelines, balancies in savings and current accounts which are not operated for 10 years, or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from the date of maturity are classified as “Unclaimed Deposits".
Notably, these amounts are transferred by banks to the Depositor Education and Awareness" (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India.
In April 2023 monetary policy announcement, RBI said, "Depositors’ protection being an overarching objective, RBI has been taking various measures to ensure that newer deposits do not turn unclaimed and existing unclaimed deposits are returned to the rightful owners or beneficiaries after following due procedure."
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Thereby, to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries, RBI decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits based on user inputs. RBI's deputy governor Rajeshwar Rao in the April policy's press conference told that this web portal for unclaimed deposits is expected to be ready in the next three to four months.
Later on May 12, RBI announced a ‘100 Days 100 Pays’ campaign for banks to trace and settle these unclaimed deposits.
However, as per the latest guidelines, under the campaign, only the 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country will be settled within 100 days.
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"This measure will complement the ongoing efforts and initiatives by the Reserve Bank to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits in the banking system and return such deposits to their rightful owners/ claimants."
The banks are directed to commence this campaign on June 1, 2023.
RBI has from time to time, through its public awareness initiatives, been encouraging members of the public to identify and approach the bank concerned for claiming such deposits.
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