New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) The government on Tuesday revealed that unclaimed deposits with public sector banks (PSBs) and private sector banks (PVBs) rose to more than Rs 52,174 crore in three fiscals (2022-2024) — from Rs 42,271 crore in FY23.

The share of unclaimed deposits with the PSBs was Rs 45,140.78 crore, and for PVBs, it was Rs 7,033.82 crore in FY24, which were transferred to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The amount of the unclaimed funds lying with the insurance companies in three fiscals from 2022-2024 was Rs 21,718 crore, he added.

As per the details of the fund disclosed in the RBI’s Annual Report, the total unclaimed deposits (till March 31, 2024) were Rs 78,212.53 crore.

The RBI has launched the Centralised Web Portal UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits-Gateway to Access Information) for the public. The said portal facilitates the registered users to search unclaimed deposits/amounts across multiple banks at one place in a centralised manner.

The Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme, 2014, issued by the RBI, governs the norms related to unclaimed deposits and outlines details of utilisation of the fund, including inter alia, promotion of depositors’ interests and other purposes as may be specified by the RBI.

Balances in savings and current accounts that remain inoperative for ten years, or term deposits not claimed within ten years from the date of maturity, are classified as Unclaimed Deposits and subsequently transferred by banks to the DEA fund maintained by the central Bank.

As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), all insurers who have unclaimed amounts of policyholders for a period of more than 10 years are required to transfer the same with interest to the Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund (SCWF) every year.

Further, even after transfer of the unclaimed amounts to the SCWF, the policyholders/ claimant continues to be eligible to claim the amounts due under their respective policies for a period of up to 25 years.

The SCWF is utilised for such schemes for the promotion of the welfare of the senior citizens in line with the National Policy on Older Persons and the National Policy on Senior Citizens, the minister said.

–IANS

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