Parliament Question: Deposits in Investor Education and Protection Fund

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1271 ANSWERED ON MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026/SHARAVANA 5, 1948 (SAKA) DEPOSITS IN INVESTOR EDUCATION AND PROTECTION FUND 1271. Mrs. Ruchi Vira: Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the total amount of funds and the number of shares (along with their market value) currently deposited in the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), along with the number of investors whose money is pending in this regard; (b) whether the Government is aware that common investors, particularly the elderly and rural heirs, are facing difficulties due to the complex online process of the IEPF- 5 form and its high rejection rate, if so, the details thereof; (c) the total number of investors who applied for a refund during the last three years, along with the number of claims approved and rejected out of the same; (d) whether the Government proposes to implement a 'Single Window Clearance System' at the national level for the expeditious settlement of pending claims amounting to thousands of crores of rupees, if so, the details thereof; and (e) whether the condition of sending physical documents to the Nodal Officers of the companies by post is likely to be abolished to make the entire process completely digital and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (HARSH MALHOTRA) (a): The information, as on 31st March, 2026, in this regard are as under:- Net Balance, after refund etc., in the IEPF 10,337.70 (₹ In Crore) No. of unclaimed shares transferred by the 195.68 Companies and available with IEPFA (Nos. In crore) Market Value of shares (₹ In Crore) 83,245.43 Number of applications pending at the end of the year 26,510 #The data for the year is unaudited(b): Revised Form IEPF-5 and Electronic Verification Report (EVR) were notified w.e.f. 6th October 2025. These forms have enhanced features such as auto-fetching of bank details linked to the destination demat account and company-side validation of shareholding details at the EVR stage. The rejections or cancellations are due to the following reasons: (i) rejected e-VR filed by the company due to incompleteness or defects in the claim; (ii) rejection under Rule 7(3) of the IEPF (AATR) Rules, 2016 where the company fails to file the initial e-VR within 75 days of filing of Form IEPF-5; (iii) rejection under Rule 7(7) where the company fails to file the corrected e-VR within 75 days of discrepancy raised by IEPFA; (iv) rejection due to the request of the company in cases of fraud or counter-claims; and (v) cancellation where discrepancies are found in Form IEPF-5 relating to financial details such as demat account or bank account numbers, in which case the claimant is given 30 days to refile with corrected details, failing which the claim is cancelled. (c): The information is as under: S. Years Number of Number of Number of No. applications applications applications received approved rejected (i) 2023-24 55,031 16,985 33,741 (ii) 2024-25 59,940 12,749 22,724 (iii) 2025-26# 72,605 62,668 34,918 #The data for the year is provisional (d): The integrated portal of IEPFA is a single window system for claiming shares and dividends. As of March 2026, only 26,510 claims were pending. (e): No such proposal is under consideration at present. ******