Deccan Chronicle: Hyderabad: Thursday, May 03, 2018.
A right to
information (RTI) petition has revealed that, as per government data, unclaimed
deposits in banks across India amounted to nearly Rs 9,000 crore, at the end of
2016, signalling a nine-fold jump since 2005. The majority of unclaimed
deposits are reportedly a result of the deaths of depositors. The Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) has directed banks to categorise accounts that have remained
inoperative for 10 years as ‘unclaimed deposits’.
According to
Union ministry of finance data, between 2005 and 2016, the amount lying in
unclaimed deposits has increased from Rs 930 crore to Rs 8,865 crore. Except
for 2014, the amount of unclaimed deposits has increased every year. However,
the number of such accounts has not increased at the same rate.
D. Rakesh
Reddy, who filed the RTI petition, said, “The prime reason for accounts to
become inoperative and subsequently fall in the unclaimed category is the death
of the account holder. Second, people shift to a new location and the account
in the old branch is not operated. Therefore, the RBI has asked banks to find
the whereabouts of customers or their legal heirs in case they are deceased and
seek reasons for not operating the account.”
Banks are
supposed to conduct an annual review of accounts which have not been operated
for more than a year. In case a customer is untraceable, banks should contact
the persons who introduced the customer. They could also contact the customer’s
employer or any other relevant person whose details are available with them.
In case the
account holder remains untraceable despite all efforts, the money is deposited
into the ‘Depositor Education and Awar-eness Fund’ as per Section 26A of the
Banking Regulation Act established by the RBI. Any amount unclaimed for more
than 10 years has to be credited to this fund within three months from the
expiry of said period. The fund is to be utilised to promote depositors’ interests.
However, a
depositor is entitled to claim any unclaimed amount even after the amount has
been transferred to the fund at a rate of 4 per cent simple interest, paid by
the bank.
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