Unclaimed money is not a fraud problem. It is an information problem. An old salary account, a matured policy, a physical share certificate from the 1990s — nobody in the family knew about them, so nobody claimed them.
How an asset becomes unclaimed
| Asset | Becomes unclaimed after | Transferred to |
|---|---|---|
| Bank deposit | 10 years of no customer-induced transaction | RBI Depositor Education and Awareness Fund |
| Insurance proceeds | 10 years from due date | Senior Citizens' Welfare Fund |
| Dividends and shares | 7 consecutive unclaimed dividends | Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) |
| Mutual fund payouts | Varies by AMC | Held by the AMC in a segregated scheme |
| EPF | Inoperative accounts | Retained by EPFO; claimable |
Where to search
- UDGAM — the RBI's centralised portal for searching unclaimed deposits across participating banks.
- IEPF portal — search for unclaimed dividends and shares transferred from listed companies, and file Form IEPF-5 to reclaim.
- Each insurer publishes an unclaimed amounts search on its own website, searchable by policy number, PAN or date of birth.
- MF Central and the two RTAs (CAMS and KFintech) for forgotten mutual fund folios.
- The EPFO member portal for inoperative provident fund accounts.
What claiming involves
- Establish identity and, if the holder has died, heirship — usually a legal heir or succession certificate.
- Submit the claim to the institution holding the record, not to the fund it was transferred into.
- For IEPF shares, the company verifies first and forwards the claim to the IEPF Authority; expect several months.
- Interest continues to accrue on unclaimed bank deposits, so the amount recovered is more than the balance at dormancy.
Preventing it entirely
Keep one live inventory of every account, folio and policy — including the ones you consider dormant — with the nominee for each. An account you have listed cannot become unclaimed, because someone will always know to ask about it.
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