The finance ministry is working with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to build a single, consolidated portal that would allow savers and retail investors to recover unclaimed assets across multiple financial instruments, including dormant bank deposits, pension balances, equity holdings and unpaid dividends.
The initiative aims to streamline what is currently a fragmented, time-consuming process and bolster consumer protection in one of the world’s fastest-growing retail investment markets.
The portal is expected to be launched soon, M Nagaraju, secretary of department of financial services said on Thursday, while speaking at a camp on ‘Aapki Poonji Aapka Adhikar’ (Your Money Your Right) organised by Punjab National Bank in New Delhi.
“The DFS is working with the RBI to develop a unified integrated portal...for across all the regulators and to be coordinated by the RBI,” he said.
To recover unclaimed assets, RBI has launched the UDGAM portal, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) have MITRA and Bima Bharosa portals, respectively.
The integrated portal would make it substantially easier for citizens to locate their unclaimed funds and provide convenience, transparency and trust.
On October 4, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a three-month nationwide awareness campaign on unclaimed assets in the financial sector.
Providing an update on recoveries, Nagaraju said the outreach and facilitation efforts have already enabled the return of ₹1,887 crore to rightful owners or their nominees.
Citizens often find unclaimed financial assets, including insurance policy claims, bank deposits, dividends, shares and mutual fund proceeds, hard to recover due to the rigorous and frustrating process they face at financial institutions.
During the campaign, citizens are expected to be given on-the-spot guidance on how to search for their unclaimed assets, update records and complete claim procedures. Digital tools and step-by-step demonstrations will be showcased.