NEW DELHI: The government will launch a drive to ensure people get their unclaimed deposits, shares and dividend, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said on Monday after the 27th Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) meeting, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
He said the Union Budget 2023-24 had announced that the system would be put in place and there will be a drive for that. “Unclaimed shares, deposits and dividends, which are lying in the pool, there should be a drive by the concerned regulator, where the nominee details are available…,” Seth stated.
Nearly Rs 35,000 crore are lying as a pool of unclaimed deposits as of February 2023 with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These funds were transferred by public sector banks (PSBs) in respect of deposits, which have not been operated for 10 years or more.
These unclaimed deposits belong to 10.24 crore accounts transferred to the RBI as of the end of February 2023. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had last month said a centralised portal would be ready in three to four months wherein depositors and beneficiaries can access details of unclaimed deposits across various banks.
FSDC met, for the first time, after budget 2023-24 was announced. In the meeting, concerns with regard to financial stability in the country were also discussed, considering the daunting challenges in the global economy, said the secretary. He said there is no spillover effect of the failures of the American financial institutions on the Indian banking system. According to him, Indian banks are well protected.