Government launches common landing portal for unclaimed financial assets

The central government launched a common landing portal that aggregates access to multiple existing portals for tracing and claiming unclaimed financial asse...

What Happened

The central government launched a common landing portal that aggregates access to multiple existing portals for tracing and claiming unclaimed financial assets — covering bank deposits, mutual funds, insurance proceeds, shares, dividends, and provident fund balances.
The portal integrates four major existing platforms: RBI's UDGAM (bank deposits), SEBI's MITRA (mutual fund folios), IRDAI's Bima Bharosa (insurance claims), and MCA's IEPF (unclaimed shares and dividends); EPFO systems for provident fund claims are also linked.
The initiative is positioned under the vision of "Viksit Bharat 2047" and aims to enhance financial empowerment, inclusion, and public trust in the financial system.
The launch builds on the October–December 2025 nationwide campaign "Apki Poonji, Apka Adhikar" (Your Money, Your Right), during which ₹5,777 crore was returned to claimants across 748 districts through 22.95 lakh claims.
The unified portal does not itself settle claims — settlement continues through the respective institutions — but eliminates the need for citizens to navigate four separate portals across different regulators.

Static Topic Bridges

Unclaimed Financial Assets in India — Scale and Regulatory Framework

Unclaimed financial assets arise when account holders, investors, or policyholders fail to transact with their financial institutions over statutory dormancy periods, and the institutions cannot locate the rightful owner. India's multi-regulator financial system has created a fragmented ecosystem for unclaimed assets across banking, securities, insurance, and provident fund sectors. The aggregate scale is significant: as of March 2024, unclaimed bank deposits alone stood at approximately ₹78,213 crore.

Banking: accounts with no transactions for 10 years are treated as unclaimed; funds are transferred to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) maintained by the RBI. Any account with no activity for 2 years becomes dormant first; unclaimed status is reached after 10 years of dormancy.
Mutual Funds: folios with no investor interaction for extended periods become inactive; SEBI's MITRA (Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant) platform launched under a February 2025 SEBI circular enables tracing.
Insurance: proceeds unclaimed for 3 years post-maturity or death claim are considered unclaimed; IRDAI's Bima Bharosa portal enables beneficiaries and policyholders to search.
Shares and Dividends: dividends unpaid for 7 years must be transferred by companies to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), along with the corresponding shares, under Sections 124 and 125 of the Companies Act, 2013.
Provident Fund: unclaimed balances in EPFO-managed accounts of inactive members are tracked through EPFO's online grievance mechanism.

Connection to this news: The common landing portal solves the fragmentation problem — a citizen unaware of which institution holds their unclaimed asset no longer needs to search four separate portals. Aggregated search access directly expands financial inclusion and operationalises the "ease of living" agenda.

UDGAM Portal (RBI) — Unclaimed Bank Deposits

The UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access inforMation) portal was launched by the Reserve Bank of India in August 2023. It enables users to search for unclaimed deposits across multiple banks using basic identifiers (name, PAN, or other details) without visiting each bank individually. The UDGAM portal was developed by the Reserve Bank Information Technology Private Limited (ReBIT) in collaboration with participating banks.

Coverage: integrates 30 banks accounting for nearly 90% of funds in the DEAF (Depositor Education and Awareness Fund).
DEAF was established under Section 26A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949; interest earned on DEAF is used for depositor education and awareness activities.
As of April 2026, over 20 lakh users have registered and 44 lakh searches have been conducted on UDGAM.
The portal facilitates identification but not settlement — claimants must approach the bank branch directly for claim processing with documentation.
Dormancy period: 2 years of inactivity triggers dormant status; unclaimed status at 10 years, after which funds transfer to DEAF.

Connection to this news: UDGAM is the anchor component of the common landing portal for the largest asset class (bank deposits). Its successful architecture — centralised search across multiple institutions — has become the template for the unified portal.

Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF)

The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) is a statutory fund established under Section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013, administered by the IEPF Authority under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It receives dividends unclaimed for 7 years and the corresponding shares from companies, which are then held in trust for investors. Investors can claim refund from the IEPF Authority.

Legal basis: Sections 124 and 125 of the Companies Act, 2013; IEPF Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016 govern the refund process.
Companies are required to transfer unclaimed dividends to IEPF within 30 days of the 7-year period expiry; the corresponding shares are simultaneously transferred to the IEPF demat account.
Investors can claim their shares and dividends from IEPF by filing Form IEPF-5 online on the MCA portal, followed by verification by the company's nodal officer.
IEPF also funds investor education programs, awareness campaigns, and research activities.
The IEPF corpus has grown substantially as India's equity market participation expands — representing a large pool of small investor assets.

Connection to this news: IEPF integration into the common landing portal is particularly significant given that shares transferred to IEPF have appreciated in value for many investors, creating a strong incentive for claim — but previously the complexity of the claim process deterred many.

Financial Inclusion and Viksit Bharat 2047

Financial inclusion — ensuring all citizens have access to formal financial services — is a core component of India's development agenda and is explicitly linked to the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. Unclaimed asset recovery contributes to financial inclusion by reconnecting citizens (particularly from rural and lower-income segments) to forgotten financial entitlements.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched on 28 August 2014, is India's flagship financial inclusion scheme; over 53 crore accounts opened as of latest data, many in rural areas.
The "Apki Poonji, Apka Adhikar" campaign (October–December 2025) was coordinated by the Finance Ministry with RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and IEPFA — the first joint regulator-ministry awareness campaign for unclaimed assets.
Financial inclusion is mapped to SEBI's Investor Charter, RBI's Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index), and IRDAI's Insurance Inclusion targets.
Viksit Bharat 2047 targets include doubling per capita income, achieving 100% financial inclusion, and expanding insurance coverage — unclaimed asset recovery directly supports the financial inclusion pillar.

Connection to this news: A common landing portal reduces search friction for citizens who may have forgotten assets across multiple platforms — disproportionately benefiting low-income and elderly populations who may lack digital literacy to navigate fragmented systems.

Key Facts & Data

Unclaimed bank deposits (as of March 2024): approximately ₹78,213 crore.
DEAF established under: Section 26A, Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
UDGAM portal launched: August 2023; developed by ReBIT; covers 30 banks (~90% of DEAF funds).
UDGAM users: 20 lakh+; searches conducted: 44 lakh+ (as of April 2026).
Dormancy-to-unclaimed timeline (banking): 2 years dormant → 10 years → transfer to DEAF.
IEPF established under: Section 125, Companies Act 2013; shares/dividends transferred after 7 years unclaimed.
Claim form for IEPF: Form IEPF-5 (filed on MCA portal).
"Apki Poonji, Apka Adhikar" campaign: October–December 2025; ₹5,777 crore returned in 22.95 lakh claims across 748 districts.
Portals aggregated under unified landing: UDGAM (RBI), MITRA (SEBI), Bima Bharosa (IRDAI), IEPF (MCA), EPFO.
PMJDY launch: 28 August 2014; accounts opened: 53 crore+ (latest data).