RBI to set up a centralised portal to access details of unclaimed deposits

In today’s Statement on developmental and regulatory policies, RBI said that it would set up a centralised portal to access details of unclaimed deposits by depositors or their beneficiaries across various banks.

The overdue deposits or balances held in inoperative accounts remaining unclaimed for 10 years are transferred to the “Depositor Education and Awareness” (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India. Banks display the list of unclaimed deposits on their website.

“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”, said RBI.

In order to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries, RBI has decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits based on user inputs. The search results will be enhanced by the use of certain AI tools, the statement said.

About Rs 35,000 crore unclaimed deposits as of February 2023 were transferred to RBI by public sector banks (PSBs) in respect of deposits that were not operated for 10 years or more. As per press reports, State Bank of India (SBI) tops the chart of unclaimed deposits worth Rs 8,086 crore followed by Punjab National Bank Rs 5,340 crore, Canara Bank Rs 4,558 crore, and Bank of Baroda Rs 3,904 crore.