RBI Brings Campaign for Unclaimed Money in Banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said yesterday that it will bring a special 100-day campaign under banks to trace and settle their top 100 deposits in every district across the nation.

The banks are likely to commence the campaign starting on June 1, 2023.

As per the RBI rules, the balances in the current or savings account remain non-operated for 10 years, or term deposits are unclaimed within 10 years from the date of maturity are classified as 'unclaimed deposits'.

The unclaimed amounts will be transferred by banks to the "Depositor Education and Awareness" (DEA) Fund which is maintained by the RBI.

In a statement released by the Central Bank, the '100 Days 100 Pays' campaign for banks to trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district in India within 100 days.

It further added that this measure will complement the RBI's ongoing efforts and initiatives to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits in the banking system and return such deposits to their rightful claimants or owners.

Apart from this, the country's central bank has also announced to set of a centralized web portal meant for the public to search for the unclaimed deposits across multiple banks.

From time to time, the RBI has undertaken a series of public awareness initiatives, which have been encouraging the common public to identify and approach the respective bank for claiming such deposits.

The unclaimed deposits with the banks have declined to Rs 35,012 crore from a staggering Rs 48,262 crore a year ago, as per the data made available by the government.

Currently, the country's largest public sector bank - State Bank of India (SBI) tops the list of unclaimed deposits to the tune of Rs 8,086 crore followed by Punjab National Bank (PNB) which stands at second position with Rs 5,340 crore and Canara Bank in third slot of Rs 4,558 crore unclaimed money and Bank of Baroda with Rs 3,904 crore worth unclaimed deposits.