Whopping Rs 49,000 crore lays unclaimed with banks, insurers PTI
The data on the unclaimed amount is till December 31, 2020.
Giving the details in a written reply, the minister said 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 of December 31, 2020.
He further said that 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).
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.
In case of banks, change of residence is seen to be a major source of funds lying idle as an account holder may not go back to another city to transact. Funds have been a perennial problem as several policyholders or their family members do not claim the maturity amount from insurance companies for multiple reasons.
Nearly Rs 49,000 cr lying unclaimed with banks, insurers: Minister Bhagwat Karad
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. RBI has advised banks to play a more proactive role in finding the whereabouts of the account holders of unclaimed deposits/inoperative accounts (Source: PTI) PTI
Updated Jul 28, 2021, 8:34 AM IST
An estimated Rs 49,000 crore is lying unclaimed with banks and insurance companies, the Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The data on the unclaimed amount is till December 31, 2020.
NEW DELHI: Funds lying unclaimed with banks and insurance companies are nearing the Rs 50,000-crore mark, with an estimated addition of Rs 5,977 crore into bank accounts during 2020.
While the exact number of insurance policies where money has not been claimed is not immediately available, the government on Tuesday told Parliament that Rs 24,356 crore was lying in over 8.1 crore accounts. This translates into an average balance of around Rs 3,000 in each of the accounts.
The nationalised banks are close to the average, with Rs 3,030 being the average balance, which was Rs 2,710 in case of State Bank of India and Rs 3,340 for private lenders. In contrast, foreign banks on an average had Rs 9,250 lying unclaimed in over 6.6 lakh accounts. At Rs 654, the average balance was lowest in case of small finance banks, while it was just under Rs 1,600 for regional rural banks.