Rs 49,000-cr unclaimed deposits lying with banks, insurers: Govt

Unclaimed deposits estimated to be Rs 49,000 crore are lying with banks and insurance companies, according to the Union Finance Ministry.

The data on the unclaimed amount is till December 31, 2020. As per information received from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total amount of unclaimed deposits of banks stood at Rs 24,356 crore, as on December 31, 2020.

"As per the Insurance Regulator Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the total amount of unclaimed amounts of policy holders in public and private sector insurance companies was at Rs 24,586 crore (end-December, 2020)," Bhagwat Karad, the Minister of State (MoS) for Finance informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The RBI framed the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) Scheme, 2014. As per the Scheme, unclaimed amounts lying with banks are credited to the DEAF by banks and DEAF is subsequently utilised for promotion of depositors' interest. On the other hand, all insurers having unclaimed amounts of policyholders for a period of more than 10 years transfer such funds to the Senior Citizens' Welfare Fund (SCWF) every year.

The SCWF is utilised for schemes for promoting the welfare of senior citizens. The minister also said the RBI has advised banks to play a more proactive role in finding the whereabouts of the account holders of unclaimed deposits/inoperative accounts.