Forgotten riches: Govt campaign to unlock ₹80,000 crore unclaimed funds
On 24 April, Mint reported citing sources that the Centre may ask state-run banks to settle at least 30%–40% of the ₹78,000 crore of unclaimed deposits in their books during FY26.
New Delhi: The government is set to launch a nationwide awareness campaign to help citizens trace and reclaim their forgotten assets, as close to ₹80,000 crore is lying unclaimed in deposits, dividends, shares, mutual funds, and other savings instruments.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will kick off the three-month campaign 'Your Money, Your Right' in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on 4 October.
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) is coordinating the campaign with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the ministry of corporate affairs.
“Unclaimed financial assets, including insurance policy claims, bank deposits, dividends, shares, and mutual fund proceeds, often remain unclaimed due to a lack of awareness or outdated account details,” the ministry of finance said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Government of India is committed to ensuring that every rupee saved by citizens can be rightfully claimed by them, or by their legal heirs and nominees. The campaign will encourage people to participate actively, spread awareness, and strengthen financial inclusion in every household,” it added.
Claim your money
The ministry said that it seeks to empower citizens by providing clear information on how to trace and claim their rightful money, supported by Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) developed by the respective fund regulators, to make the process simple and transparent.
On 24 April, Mint reported citing sources that the Centre may ask state-run banks to settle at least 30%–40% of the ₹78,000 crore of unclaimed deposits in their books during FY26.
To achieve this, the government is likely to direct public sector banks (PSBs) to identify regions with the highest concentration of unclaimed deposits, set quarterly branch-level targets, and implement standard operating procedures alongside new RBI rules, Mint had reported.
The RBI’s revised guidelines, effective 1 April, require banks to display unclaimed deposit details on their websites with a public search feature.
To be sure, settlement of unclaimed deposits have also been made part of the government’s EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) reforms agenda for PSBs this fiscal.
Digital claim process
As things stand, customers can check unclaimed deposits through the RBI’s UDGAM portal.
However, they must visit the respective bank branch to complete the claim process. The proposed changes that banks are slated to take up would digitize and simplify this process, eventually allowing deposit retrieval online.
Meanwhile, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, has increased the number of nominees accepted per bank account from one to four, allowing easier identification of beneficiaries if the account becomes dormant. The key provisions of the law came into effect on 1 August 2025.