New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a campaign called ‘100 days 100 pays’ to help return unclaimed deposits to the rightful owner or claimants. “The Reserve Bank of India announced a ‘100 Days 100 Pays’ campaign for banks to trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days,” the central bank said in a statement.
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What are unclaimed deposits
Balances in savings/current accounts which are not operated for 10 years, or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from date of maturity are classified as “unclaimed deposits”. These amounts are transferred by banks to “Depositor Education and Awareness” (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India.
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What new rule says about unclaimed deposits
- The RBI urged the public to locate and contact the relevant bank for claiming these deposits. This measure, the RBI said, 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 new rule will come into effect from June.
- Recently, the RBI has also announced the setting up of a centralised web portal for public to search unclaimed deposits across multiple banks. “Now, in order to improve and widen the access of depositors / beneficiaries to information on such unclaimed deposits, it has been decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits. This will help depositors/beneficiaries in getting back unclaimed deposits,” the RBI said.
- The Reserve Bank, from time to time, through its public awareness initiatives, has been encouraging members of public to identify and approach the bank concerned for claiming such deposits.
- According to the Union government, the total of unclaimed deposits transferred to the RBI by the public sector banks as on February 2023 was Rs 35,012 crore.
- At present, the depositors or beneficiaries of unclaimed bank deposits of 10 years or more have to go through the websites of multiple banks to locate such deposits.
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Documents required to claim unclaimed deposits
- Recent photographs
- Identity proof
- Address proof
- Passbook
- Term deposit/special term deposit receipts
Customers will need to visit the relevant bank and submit these documents to claim the unclaimed deposits. If the documents are in order, the lender will begin the process of releasing funds from the unclaimed deposit.
