Promising relief to those with unclaimed bank deposits, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched its centralised portal, Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access inforMation or UDGAM, on 17 August. The portal will help people track all their unclaimed deposits across different banks in one place.
The RBI announced the launch of this portal at its monetary policy meeting on 6 April, 2023, to address the difficulties people encounter in tracing their forgotten bank money.
To start with, the portal will provide information on unclaimed deposits with respect to only seven banks – State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Dhanlaxmi Bank, South Indian Bank, DBS Bank India, and Citibank. The search facility for the remaining banks will be made available in phases by October 15, 2023, as per the RBI press release.
The RBI has been making efforts to help people find their unclaimed deposits, given the large amount of money involved. As of February-end 2023, public sector banks had transferred over Rs 35,000 crore to the RBI as unclaimed deposits. This money lies with the RBI’s Depositors’ Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) and earns simple interest at rates declared by it.
"Now, with one single portal, it will become easy for depositors to search for their unclaimed deposits. The website is very user-friendly and easy to use," says Vikash Jain, Co-Founder, Share Samadhan Ltd.
What are unclaimed deposits?
How does money in a bank account turn into an unclaimed deposit? To start with, a bank account that is not being used first becomes inoperative, and then eventually, an unclaimed deposit.
Rajat Dutta, Founder, Inheritance Needs Services, explains how this happens. Savings and current accounts become inoperative or dormant if there are no transactions (either by the customer or any third party) in them for more than two years. Recurring and term deposits turn inoperative if the deposit amount remains unclaimed even two years after maturity.
Then, finally, at the end of 10 years after an account – whether savings, current, or term deposit account – has become inoperative, the amount is transferred to the DEAF as an unclaimed deposit.
Finding unclaimed deposits
Up until now, if you wanted to search for any unclaimed deposits, you would have to look for them on each bank’s website. For this, you have to key in a few basic details, such as the account holder’s name, address, date of birth, PAN, etc. You do not need to know the account number for this, though. The process can be cumbersome in cases where the bank account holder has passed away and the family members are not even aware of the existence of the deceased’s bank accounts.
Now, UDGAM promises to change this. While one will have to wait to see whether UDGAM is able to provide complete information on all unclaimed deposits (once all banks join the portal), the initial registration and log-in process is very simple.
Note that balances in inoperative bank accounts continue to remain with the banks themselves, and these cannot be searched for on the portal.
Also read: Banks that offer up to 8% interest on savings accounts
The information you get
On UDGAM, you have to enter your mobile number and a password to register. Once you enter the OTP sent to your mobile number, the registration is complete.
You do not need the mobile number of the person whose unclaimed deposits you are going to be searching for. For example, you can use your mobile number to register on UDGAM to help your elderly parents find their unclaimed deposits.
Once registration is over, you log in, enter the name of the account holder or joint account holder, and select the relevant banks (or select ‘all banks’) from the drop-down menu. You also have to enter one of the following details - PAN, voter ID, driving licence number, passport number, date of birth, or address. Then, you press ‘search’.
So, what happens next? “The search results will present a list of banks where the customer maintains their accounts, based on potential matches. Clicking on the bank's name will lead them to the official website, where they can access the ‘unclaimed deposits’ section. Under that, customers can explore the list of unclaimed accounts and find more information about the process to claim the funds,” says Prashant Joshi, Managing Director and Head-Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank India.
According to Jain, only the name and address of the bank branch are shown on the portal when you run a search. "It would have been better if the amount of the unclaimed deposit had been included along with other details. This could help depositors know the total unclaimed amount and make an informed decision about whether to initiate claims."
To address data safety concerns, Jain says that Aadhaar authentication should be made mandatory for the person registering on the portal. This will help prevent unauthorised logins and fraudulent claims. He also suggests that the RBI implement a mechanism to ensure that information on unclaimed deposits is updated in real-time.
Also read: FD rates for Senior Citizens: Banks that offer up to 9.1% interest on 3-year deposits
What more is needed?
Furthermore, once you have this information, you need to start making claims with the relevant banks. And this process remains challenging.
Adhil Shetty, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), BankBazaar.com, says, "UDGAM is a good initiative, but it is only one part of the solution. Claiming an unclaimed deposit in the absence of a nominee is a very painstaking process. It is equally important to educate people about the need to have a nominee for all their investments and to keep your family informed about your investments."
Commenting on the process of claiming such deposits, which is still offline, Jain says that the RBI should consider making it online by using virtual KYC and authentication through Aadhaar or any other means.
Sanchit Garg, CEO and Co-founder of GLC Wealth Advisor LLP, too has a suggestion for easing the claim process. "To supplement this initiative, the RBI should introduce a standard set of documents so that account holders don’t have to run around providing different sets of documents as per the changing requirements of every bank."
RBI’s UDGAM portal for finding unclaimed bank deposits goes live - Moneycontrol
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