Unclaimed bank account deposits have recently been the subject of a campaign launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to return them to their rightful owners or claimants. The mission called ‘100 days 100 pays’ will start from June 1, 2023.
In a statement, the central bank stated, “The Reserve Bank of India announced a “100 Days 100 Pays” campaign for banks to trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days.” Recently, the RBI likewise reported the setting up of Centralised Web portal for public to look through unclaimed deposits across various banks.
What exactly are unclaimed deposits?
“Unclaimed deposits” are term deposits or savings/current account balances that haven’t been used in ten years or term deposits that haven’t been claimed within ten years of maturity. The banks send these funds to the Reserve Bank of India’s “Depositor Education and Awareness” (DEA) Fund.
The public was urged by the RBI to locate and get in touch with the appropriate bank to claim these deposits. This action, the RBI said, will supplement the continuous endeavors and drives by the Reserve Bank to decrease the quantum of unclaimed deposits in the financial framework and return such deposits to their legitimate owners/petitioners.
As of now, the contributors or recipients of unclaimed bank deposits of 10 years or more need to go through the sites of different banks to find such deposits.
Through its public awareness campaigns, the Reserve Bank has been encouraging the general public to locate the relevant bank and approach it to claim such deposits. As indicated by the public authority, the all out of unclaimed stores moved to the RBI by the public area banks as on February 2023 was Rs 35,012 crore.
