The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) fund in 2014 to transfer customers’ unclaimed money lying with banks for 10 years or more in an effort to safe-keep these funds until their owners come looking for them. Earlier, these funds used to lie with the banks. According to RBI’s latest annual report, the unclaimed deposits with DEA increased to Rs 78,212.53 crore in FY2023-24 from Rs 62,224.89 crore in 2022-23.

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As per bank policy, an account becomes dormant if a customer does not operate it for two years, and funds lying in that account will be transferred to DEA after 10 years.

The RBI report showed that funds in DEA were Rs 7,875 crore in FY2014-15, which rose to Rs 78,212.53 crore in FY2023-24. In 2019-20, it was Rs 33,114.46 crore; in 2020-21, it was Rs 39,264.25 crore; in 2021-22, it was Rs 48,262.85 crore; and in 2023-24, it was Rs 62,224.89 crore. These numbers show that the DEA fund has rapidly grown over the last few years.

Around this time last year, RBI had launched a campaign called “100 days 100 pays” to fast-track the settlement of unclaimed deposits via the web portal, UDGAM, which went live in August 2023.The portal allows people to search for their unclaimed money in 30 banks.

Types of Unclaimed Deposits

The unclaimed deposits include savings bank account balance, fixed deposits, current account deposits, recurring deposits, demand drafts, pay orders, inter-bank clearing adjustments, loan accounts, margin money against letter of credit, and rupee proceeds after converting foreign currencies. The reason behind the spike in DEA funds could be fewer people coming forward to claim their money, or due to the lack of public awareness regarding the fund.

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How To Find Your Unclaimed Deposit

Due to the integrated UDGAM portal, one can easily check whether an unclaimed deposit is lying with any of the onboarded banks that may belong to them or their deceased relatives.

But first, they must register with the UDGAM portal and provide the accountholder’s name, bank name, and any one of the following details: PAN, voter ID, passport, driving license, or date of birth of the account holder to check the details of unclaimed deposit.

Companies can also use the UDGAM portal to check unclaimed deposits in the company’s name. However, they must provide the entity name, bank name, date of incorporation, name of authorised signatories, and corporate identification number (CIN) to get the details.

If these details are unavailable, they can provide the account holder’s name or the entity’s address. According to RBI, 90 per cent of unclaimed deposits belonged to the 30 onboarded banks. So, if you haven’t already checked the portal, check now for your forgotten deposits.