Moneylife Impact: Government To Launch Unified Portal for Unclaimed Financial Assets
The department of financial services (DFS) under Union ministry of finance (MoF) is collaborating with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to create a comprehensive digital platform that will consolidate all types of dormant financial holdings, including bank deposits, insurance claims, mutual fund investments, shares and dividend payments, says a senior official. The current system of multiple separate portals for different asset categories creates confusion among citizens. According to M Nagaraju, secretary of DFS, the new consolidated platform will serve as a one-stop solution coordinated by RBI, bringing together information from all financial sector regulators into a single searchable interface.
Recent statistics reveal that about ₹1.08 lakh crore in unclaimed funds are sitting idle across banks, mutual funds, insurance providers and unpaid dividend accounts. The fragmented nature of existing systems—where customers must navigate different platforms depending on whether their assets fall under banking, insurance, or securities regulations—often discourages people from pursuing their rightful claims.
The heightened attention on unclaimed deposits is not without context. Moneylife Foundation, has played a pivotal role in bringing this issue to the forefront since past several years. In 2022, its founder-trustee Sucheta Dalal, had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) that demanded greater transparency and a centralised mechanism for tracking unclaimed financial assets (Read: SC Issues Notice on Plea By Sucheta Dalal That Information on Unclaimed Amounts Lying in Dormant Accounts Be Made Publicly Available on a Centralised Platform).
This litigation and years of sustained advocacy pushed RBI to launch the UDGAM (unclaimed deposits-gateway to access information) portal. Through its report, Challenges in Transmission of Assets to Nominees and Legal Heirs, Moneylife Foundation has consistently highlighted how banks routinely flout RBI’s own rules by failing to publish lists of unclaimed accounts, demanding excessive documentation and delaying even legitimate claims. These obstacles disproportionately affect senior citizens and legal heirs, leaving families struggling to recover funds that are rightfully theirs.
In October this year, the Supreme Court issued notice in a PIL filed by Aakash Goel, a Delhi-based activist, engineer and entrepreneur, seeking the creation of a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to track and return over Rs3.5 lakh crore in unclaimed financial assets to their rightful owners.
Moneylife has also consistently reported on the growing scale of the problem. In August 2024, we reported that over Rs2 lakh crore was lying in inoperative bank accounts on the verge of becoming unclaimed (Read: Forgotten Wealth of Ordinary Indians: Over Rs2 Lakh Crore Locked in Unclaimed Assets). Another investigation showed that banks had transferred Rs1.44 lakh crore to the RBI’s DEAF (depositor education and awareness fund) over five years, while only Rs5,729 crore had been refunded to claimants (Read: Banks Transferred Unclaimed Deposits Worth Rs1.44 Lakh Crore to DEA Fund in 5 Years).
The Foundation has also produced a detailed note, outlining the need for a statutory body and unified database to manage unclaimed assets (Read: Note on Central Authority For Unclaimed Funds) and separately published a study examining the Challenges in Transmission of Assets to Nominees and Legal Heirs.
With the new notice in Mr Goel’s petition, the issue of unclaimed assets has once again come under judicial scrutiny. The responses of the government and regulators will determine whether the Court restricts itself to incremental disclosures or pushes for a comprehensive statutory framework. Either way, the matter has brought fresh focus to a problem that has quietly grown into one of the largest pools of locked-up household savings in India.
At present, individuals seeking to recover dormant assets must use separate mechanisms: RBI's UDGAM portal for bank deposits, SEBI's MITRA (mutual fund investment tracing and retrieval assistant) platform for securities, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India(IRDAI)'s Bima Bharosa for insurance, the ministry of corporate affairs' (MCA) investor education and protection fund (IEPF) and various EPFO (employees' provident fund organisation) systems for provident fund (PF) claims.
The government launched a three-month nationwide awareness initiative in October called ‘Aapki Poonji Aapka Adhikar’ (your money, your right), spearheaded by Union minister of finance Nirmala Sitharaman. This campaign, running through December, involves coordination among the DFS, RBI, IRDAI, SEBI, and Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA).
Through outreach camps and facilitation efforts organised across districts, the campaign has already helped return ₹1,887 crore to legitimate claimants and their nominees. While Mr Nagaraju acknowledged these figures may seem modest, he emphasised they represent the initial impact of awareness building, with expectations of many more families coming forward.
The unified portal aims to deliver greater convenience, transparency and trust, while reducing customer friction. This is particularly beneficial for families managing legacy accounts or individuals seeking to trace forgotten investments. The platform will eliminate the need to match old records against multiple institutional databases.
According to RBI’s existing guidelines, financial institutions must process claims for unclaimed assets worth ₹15 lakh or more within 15 days of receiving proper documentation. The new portal is expected to accelerate settlement timelines as digital access improves and more awareness camps are conducted.
Many financial assets remain unclaimed primarily due to a lack of awareness or outdated contact information in account records. The ongoing campaign offers citizens on-site assistance with searching for dormant assets, updating records, and completing claim procedures. Digital tools and step-by-step demonstrations are also being showcased at these events.
By consolidating scattered databases into a single national platform, the government aims to enhance transparency, reduce duplication and enable regulators to track dormant accounts more effectively. The consolidated system represents a significant step toward financial inclusion and helping citizens reclaim their rightful savings.
The portal launch is expected shortly, marking a major reform in how India handles unclaimed financial resources.
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