Balances in savings / current accounts that are not operated for 10 years, or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from the date of maturity are classified as “Unclaimed Deposits”.
Every bank is required to show the details of unclaimed accounts on its website, as per the RBI regulations. After checking the details on the website, customers can visit the bank branch with a duly filled claim form, and receipts of the deposits, and know your customer’s (KYC) documents to claim the money.
Customers may visit a branch of SBI with all necessary KYC documents.
If the customer wants to activate and continue operations in the account, the branch will accept the specific request from the customer and reactivate the account by obtaining proper KYC.
In case of final claims and closure of an account, the branch will accept specific requests from the customer to process accordingly.
Customers may visit the SBI branch with the request letter (in the given format) and submit valid proof of identity, address & latest photograph. On verification of the same, the branch will make the account operative and allow transactions in the account.
The Legal Heir / Nominee may visit the SBI Branch and submit the required documents. Customers would be required to comply with the claim settlement process of the Bank
The customer may submit the Claim Form on the Company’s/ Firm’s / Institution’s letterhead duly signed by the authorized signatories along with their valid identity and address proofs. The customer may also be required to submit additional documents as required by the Bank
The growing volume of Unclaimed Deposits arises mainly due to the non-closure of savings / current accounts which depositors do not intend to operate anymore or due to not submitting redemption claims with banks for matured fixed deposits.
There are also cases of accounts belonging to deceased depositors, where the nominees/ legal heirs do not come forward to make a claim on the bank(s) concerned.
On 17 August 2023, RBI launched the centralised web portal ‘UDGAM’ for the public to facilitate and make it easier for them to search their unclaimed deposits across multiple banks in one place.
As many as 30 banks have been onboarded on the UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access information) portal to enable people to claim and search unclaimed deposits.
The 30 banks include all major public sector lenders like SBI, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, and Bank of India, and foreign banks like Citibank, Standard Chartered, and HSBC. The list of private sector lenders includes HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.