Sitharaman asks regulators to expedite refund of unclaimed deposits, streamline KYC process

11 Jun 2025 Evaluate

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) meeting has asked regulators and departments to expedite the refund of unclaimed deposits to rightful owners and streamline the KYC process. She emphasised that interest of common citizens to be kept in mind and expeditiously refund the claims of the rightful claimants. She exhorted the Council to take proactive steps to ensure that citizens should have a seamless experience with respect to KYC processes across the financial sector.

She noted that there is a need for common KYC norms, simplification and digitalisation of the KYC process including digital onboarding for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) including PIOs and OCIs, in the Indian securities market. She urged the regulators and departments to expedite the process of refund to rightful owners of unclaimed amounts by holding special district-level camps. This drive is to be conducted in coordination with RBI, SEBI, MCA, PFRDA and IRDA along with banks, pension agencies, insurance companies etc.

The unclaimed amounts comprise deposits in banks; unclaimed shares and dividends are managed by IEPFA; and unclaimed insurance and pension funds are with IRDAI and PFRDA respectively. As per the latest RBI Annual Report, unclaimed deposits with banks have witnessed a 26 per cent jump year on year to Rs 78,213 crore at the end of March 2024. The amount with the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund stood at Rs 62,225 crore at the end of March 2023.


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