Unclaimed Bank Accounts — Explained

This document covers

1. Background
2. Meaning of Unclaimed Accounts or Deposits
3. Process of claiming refund of unclaimed accounts from the DEA fund
4. Time limit for claiming refund
5. UDGAM Portal
6. Banks part of UDGAM Portal
7. How to check in Udgam Portal

1. Background

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is encouraging the public to activate their inoperative accounts and claimed their unsettled deposits from the bank. As a part of this, recently Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the scheme for Facilitating Accelerated Payout – Inoperative Accounts and Unclaimed Deposits. The objective of the scheme is to encourage banks

• To actively pursue the customers for re-activation of their inoperative accounts
• To return the unclaimed amounts lying with Depositors Education Awareness (DEA) Fund to the rightful claimant in a timely and efficient manner

The scheme is open for a period of 1- year ie., from 01st October 2025 to 30th September 2026.

2. Meaning of Unclaimed Accounts or Deposits

• Unclaimed accounts mean any savings account, current account, fixed deposit , term deposit, recurring deposit accounts etc maintained with banks which have not been operated or claimed for 10 years or more than 10 years from the date of maturity by the account holder.
• These amounts will be transferred by banks to "Depositor Education and Awareness" (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India.
• The banks will transfer the funds including interest to DEA account on the last working day of the month subsequent to the month of completing 10 years of its continuous inoperative or unclaimed status.

3. Process of claiming refund of unclaimed accounts from the DEA fund

If any person wants to claim the refund of unclaimed accounts, they need to follow the below process

1. Search for Unclaimed Deposit: If any person wants to know his unclaimed deposits, he can visit RBI’s UDGAM portal and search for any unclaimed deposits.
2. Visit the Bank: After finding unclaimed deposits, the person needs to visit the bank with KYC documents and provide the signed application for refund request
3. Verification by bank: The bank will verify the documents and lodge the claim with RBI for reimbursement from Depositor and Education Awareness Fund (DEA).
4. Receipt of refund: Once verification is done, the person will receive the refund.

4. Time limit for claiming refund

There is no time limit for claiming refunds from DEA funds. The bank will pay the amount along with interest (applicable in case of interest-bearing deposit) to the depositors or nominees or legal heirs of deceased people.

5. UDGAM Portal

• UDGAM means Unclaimed Deposits-Gateway to Access inforMation.
• It is an online portal developed by RBI.
• It helps people to search for unclaimed accounts or deposits across multiple banks at one place in a centralized manner.
• 30 Banks are part of UDGAM portal and they cover around 90% of unclaimed deposits.

6. Banks part of UDGAM Portal

• Axis Bank
• Bank of Baroda
• Bank of India
• Bank of Maharashtra
• Canara Bank
• Central Bank of India
• DBS Bank
• Dhanlaxmi Bank
• Federal bank
• HDFC Bank
• HSBC Bank
• ICICI bank
• IDBI bank
• Indian Bank
• Indian Overseas Bank
• IndusInd Bank
• Jammu and Kashmir Bank
• Karnataka Bank
• Karur Vysya Bank
• Kotak Mahindra
• Punjab National Bank
• Punjab and Sind Bank
• Saraswat Cooperative banks
• South India Bank
• Standard Chartered Bank
• State Bank of India
• Tamilnad Mercantile Bank
• UCO bank
• Union Bank of India

7. How to check in Udgam Portal

1. Create an account in https://udgam.rbi.org.in/unclaimed-deposits/#/register by giving Mobile Number, Name and Password
2. Login to https://udgam.rbi.org.in/unclaimed-deposits/#/login with Mobile number and Password
3. Enter the name of the Account holder, PAN or voter id or Driving license or passport number or date of birth and select all banks and click on Search
4. It will show the results