About ₹1,50,000 crore is lying as unclaimed deposits/amounts with various Indian banks and insurance companies as of December 2020. This is a significant increase from about ₹1,30,000 crore two years ago. A deposit is classified as 'unclaimed' if the customer doesn't make any transaction using that account for at least 10 years. Most such unclaimed money exists with public banks/ insurance providers. The State Bank of India has 15% of the total unclaimed deposits, the highest among all the banks.
Growing amount
The graph shows the amount of unclaimed money (₹ crore) In Indian banks and the number of such accounts. Both the unclaimed amount and the accounts increased by 1.7 times between 2018 and 2020. As of December 2020, ₹1,24,356 crore of unclaimed money existed in 8.13 crore accounts.
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Public Sector Banks hold most of the unclaimed deposits, though the share has come down marginally in recent years. In 2018, 88% of such accounts were in PSBs. The share reduced to 84% in December 2020. The State Bank of India had ₹3,577 crore of unclaimed money across 1.31 crore accounts as of December 2020.
Insurance money
The graph shows the amount of unclaimed insurance amount with companies. Over the years, the unclaimed life insurance amount has increased 1.5 times.
Share of amount
Life Insurance Corporation of India holds 82% of all unclaimed insurance amounts as of December 2020. The share of such unclaimed amounts with the LIC was only 69% in 2018. LIC of India had ₹1,19,100 crore of unclaimed money, which is over 80% of the total such money in all insurance companies.
Unclaimed deposits have to be transferred to the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund every month. After 10 years, if a claim on the deposit is made, the banks settle it from their own funds and claim it back from the DEA Fund later.
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Source: Lok Sabha