Parliament Question: Unclaimed amounts lying with banks

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1195 ANSWERED ON TUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY, 2026/ 21 MAGHA, 1947 (SAKA) UNCLAIMED AMOUNTS LYING WITH BANKS 1195 DR. MEDHA VISHRAM KULKARNI: Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state: (a) the total amount of unclaimed deposits lying with public sector banks, private sector banks and foreign banks in the country as on date, bank- wise and year- wise; (b) the reasons for the steady increase in such unclaimed amounts; (c) whether Government has transferred such amounts to any central fund or authority, if so, the details thereof; and (d) the future policy decision of Government to ensure timely identification of rightful claimants and utilisation of unclaimed funds in public interest? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY) (a) to (d): The balances in savings and current accounts that remain inoperative for ten years, or term deposits not claimed within ten years from the date of maturity, are classified as Unclaimed Deposits and subsequently transferred by banks to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Outstanding in the DEA Fund pertaining to Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks and Foreign Banks, bank- wise and year- wise is enclosed at Annexure-I, Annexure-II and Annexure- III, respectively. The RBI has informed that the possible reasons for increase in unclaimed amounts, are as under: (i) Legacy accounts with incomplete or non-updated account holder information, such as address, phone number, or e-mail ID. (ii) In case of accounts where the account holder is deceased and the legal heirs or nominees are unaware of the existence of the account to initiate the claim. (iii) To claim funds from an unclaimed account, certain documentation and procedures need to be followed by banks as well as the claimant. In some cases, the legal heir or nominee of a deceased account holder are unable to provide the prescribed documents for claiming the amount and hence, the account remains unclaimed. To ensure timely identification of rightful claimants and reducing both the existing stock of unclaimed deposits as well as the fresh accretion to the DEA Fund, the Government of India and RBI have initiated several steps, which include, inter- alia, the following: (i) To reduce the volume of unclaimed deposits within the banking system, the ‘100 Days, 100 Pays’ campaign was launched by the RBI with an aim to trace and settlethe top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in each district within a timeframe of 100 days. During the campaign, (from 1.6.2023 to 8.9.2023), the banks were able to reinstate an amount of Rs. 1,432.68 Crore to claimants. (ii) A three-month (October – December 2025) nationwide campaign - “आपकी पूँज ी, आपका अधिकार – Your Money, Your Right” - for settlement of unclaimed assets in the financial sector was organised by the Department of Financial Services, in co- ordination with the Reserve Bank of India and other financial sector regulators. During the campaign, special camps were organised in 748 districts across the country for generating awareness and enabling the public to trace and claim their unclaimed financial assets. (iii) RBI has launched the Centralised Web Portal UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access InforMation) for public use to facilitate and make it easier to search unclaimed deposits across multiple banks at one place. (iv) Reserve Bank of India (RBI), dated November 28, 2025, advised banks to undertake the following initiatives in order to identify unclaimed accounts: • To undertake special drives periodically to find out the whereabouts of the customers, their nominees or legal heirs in respect of inoperative accounts / unclaimed deposits. • To display and update the list of unclaimed deposits on their website, which shall be updated regularly, at least on a monthly basis. • To conduct public awareness and financial literacy campaigns regularly to educate the members of public about the activation of inoperative accounts / unclaimed deposits and the prescribed procedure to claim amounts lying therein by a depositor or his / her nominee / legal heir in case of deceased depositor. (v) RBI has introduced an incentive scheme on 30.9.2025, effective from 1.10.2025, offering banks a payout of 5%–7.5% of the unclaimed deposit amount (subject to a cap) for every successfully settled claim. (vi) The RBI has issued new guidelines for the settlement of death claims in 2025, effective March 31, 2026, requiring banks to settle claims within 15 calendar days of receiving all necessary documents. Key aspects include simplified procedures for accounts without nominees below a specific threshold (up to ₹15 lakh for most banks) and a requirement for banks to pay compensation for delays. (vii) The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 has introduced provisions allowing multiple nominations (up to four successive or simultaneous nominations) for bank customers. Further, financial assistance provided by the DEA funds include, inter-alia, for conducting programmes for spreading awareness on financial literacy among the excluded sections of the society, holding seminars for depositors/ depositors’ associations on safe and secure banking, funding projects and research activities relating to depositors’ education. *****Annexure referred in Part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1195 for 10.2.2026 regarding Unclaimed amounts lying with banks Annexure-I Bank-wise Total Amount of Unclaimed Deposits (in ₹ Crore) with DEA Fund since Inception of the Fund - Public Sector Banks As on Name of S.no. Status 31.3.2015 31.3.2016 31.3.2017 31.3.2018 31.3.2019 31.3.2020 31.3.2021 31.3.2022 31.3.2023 31.3.2024 31.3.2025 28.1.2026 Banks State Bank 1 Active of India 757.14 880.93 1,081.42 1,534.52 2,852.66 3,387.65 3,636.41 4,513.87 8,952.21 14,423.48 18,669.91 19,527.69 State Bank 2 of Bikaner & Merged 161.30 186.39 225.49 223.81 - - - - - - - - Jaipur State Bank 3 of Merged 75.45 81.96 94.37 94.18 - - - - - - - - Hyderabad State Bank 4 Merged of Mysore 49.22 60.24 70.65 70.42 - - - - - - - - State Bank 5 Merged of Patiala 35.79 42.50 54.55 54.37 - - - - - - - - State Bank 6 of Merged 20.97 113.88 154.16 153.61 - - - - - - - - Travancore Allahabad 7 Merged Bank 9.61 14.63 19.29 128.56 429.30 502.75 947.49 - - - - - Andhra 8 Merged Bank 148.93 182.07 224.86 274.00 399.29 446.11 491.89 - - - - - Bank of 9 Active Baroda 268.10 316.60 403.77 429.31 615.41 1,429.50 2,051.37 3,450.54 3,941.11 4,503.44 5,075.01 5,634.74 Bank of 10 Active India 38.54 113.72 292.26 539.25 784.01 1,137.94 1,488.26 1,756.66 2,599.00 2,949.20 3,754.04 4,237.14 Bank of 11 Active Maharashtra 52.66 66.49 102.33 230.89 262.68 434.96 500.85 610.27 845.13 950.09 1,077.33 1,188.45 Canara 12 Active Bank 847.99 977.29 1,166.89 1,382.31 1,628.77 1,886.53 2,196.84 3,810.74 4,603.78 5,306.88 6,059.93 6,613.60 Central 13 Bank of Active 25.12 32.72 61.68 83.61 251.14 536.14 837.35 1,085.73 1,270.56 1,545.51 2,014.24 2,155.18 India Corporation 14 Merged Bank 53.94 73.83 92.49 99.67 116.56 128.88 136.46 - - - - -15 Dena Bank Merged 185.02 235.90 267.36 331.83 406.69 499.78 577.56 - - - - - 16 Indian Bank Active 72.97 106.04 506.88 684.27 762.85 884.15 1,025.78 2,221.49 2,510.66 3,234.22 3,634.00 3,874.52 Indian 17 Overseas Active 368.44 530.87 639.07 695.58 802.53 1,167.05 1,372.16 1,595.21 1,822.21 2,003.51 2,311.24 2,500.91 Bank Oriental 18 Bank of Merged 295.85 401.73 504.05 609.82 691.71 804.86 - - - - - - Commerce Punjab and 19 Active Sind Bank 96.61 127.26 136.66 158.83 187.52 215.37 316.65 430.03 500.25 607.53 812.86 859.67 Punjab 20 National Active 422.06 676.58 1,196.33 1,567.29 1,931.83 2,323.62 4,485.80 5,069.32 5,345.97 5,470.55 6,555.34 7,269.07 Bank Syndicate 21 Merged Bank 376.91 411.95 585.10 627.58 866.10 991.44 1,111.93 - - - - - 22 UCO Bank Active 21.17 93.35 103.02 122.99 164.69 303.65 409.15 499.94 594.97 686.47 1,270.33 1,400.68 Union Bank 23 Active of India 610.36 704.90 822.51 973.77 1,146.21 1,339.73 1,746.89 2,877.09 3,198.83 3,459.91 4,090.13 5,309.37 United Bank 24 Merged of India 43.73 57.89 85.61 256.16 518.63 676.21 - - - - - - 25 Vijaya Bank Merged 62.88 87.53 117.05 195.37 271.40 328.85 349.79 - - - - - Bhartiya 26 Merged Mahila Bank - - - - - - - - - - - - Total 5,100.76 6,577.24 9,007.87 11,522.00 15,089.97 19,425.16 23,682.64 27,920.89 36,184.66 45,140.78 55,324.37 60,571.02 *Source: Reserve Bank of India *****Annexure referred in Part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1195 for 10.2.2026 regarding Unclaimed amounts lying with banks Annexure-II Bank-wise Total Amount of Unclaimed Deposits (in ₹ Crore) with DEA Fund since Inception of the Fund – Private Sector Banks As on S.no Name of 31.3.201 31.3.201 31.3.201 31.3.201 31.3.202 31.3.202 31.3.202 31.3.202 31.3.202 31.3.202 Status 31.3.2015 28.1.2026 . Banks 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 IDBI Bank 1 Active 10.08 20.09 29.92 98.31 138.53 167.21 208.20 259.42 403.30 483.06 560.50 638.58 Ltd The Catholic 2 Syrian Active 15.32 16.97 29.24 35.86 42.71 48.16 53.53 64.08 71.58 78.05 85.55 92.02 Bank Ltd (CSB) City Union 3 Active 6.66 15.03 26.56 30.82 36.91 42.15 51.94 63.04 75.61 94.64 124.88 142.35 Bank Ltd Dhanlaxmi 4 Active 4.31 13.71 19.76 25.22 30.64 40.32 47.21 67.51 79.20 87.67 98.78 104.82 Bank Ltd Federal 5 Active 66.80 77.33 93.26 103.07 114.56 177.37 212.03 248.65 279.68 309.87 339.18 389.33 Bank Ltd ING Vysya 6 Closed 93.75 - - - - - - - - - - - Bank Ltd The Jammu & 7 Active 16.14 31.06 61.24 77.90 106.82 147.56 200.50 244.31 273.94 280.15 349.75 598.86 Kashmir Bank Ltd Karnataka 8 Active 50.61 63.28 78.99 92.10 108.06 122.99 130.88 177.48 249.24 290.98 320.65 344.94 Bank Ltd The Karur 9 Vysya Active 50.36 64.74 83.60 98.57 112.10 129.13 151.04 181.07 210.59 224.44 248.70 272.40 Bank Ltd Lakshmi Merge 10 Vilas Bank 10.10 17.72 23.14 42.62 57.58 64.38 73.06 79.94 - - - - d Ltd TheNainita 11 Active 6.74 8.31 11.17 13.85 15.54 19.05 22.52 25.36 30.77 35.33 41.70 45.79 l Bank Ltd Ratnakar 12 Active 8.00 9.75 11.29 13.07 15.56 17.51 22.34 27.73 35.86 41.64 51.74 61.05 Bank Ltd South 13 Indian Active 42.18 54.96 70.90 83.83 99.92 124.11 149.85 183.70 218.64 244.10 274.69 300.48 Bank LtdTamilnad 14 Mercantile Active 37.05 45.90 52.83 60.46 68.97 77.95 89.79 102.67 114.72 126.66 151.55 171.66 Bank Ltd Axis Bank 15 Active 26.75 42.01 65.11 97.53 161.69 232.89 335.85 449.29 753.35 999.47 1,280.64 1,520.19 Ltd DCB Bank 16 Active 19.75 22.55 26.10 31.00 37.68 45.17 55.29 61.63 70.38 77.38 90.28 97.45 Ltd HDFC 17 Active 92.23 137.05 230.93 368.14 497.07 617.69 783.99 931.00 1,090.05 1,291.26 1,477.94 1,795.97 Bank Ltd ICICI Bank 18 Active 257.58 358.41 484.12 665.46 833.07 1,035.29 1,218.40 1,439.87 1,627.06 1,769.63 2,013.41 2,176.59 Ltd IndusInd 19 Active 12.53 15.59 18.95 23.63 29.06 39.74 66.25 90.96 126.17 156.43 180.17 199.97 Bank Ltd Kotak 20 Mahindra Active 2.42 114.04 135.91 165.33 184.67 226.24 260.49 303.00 356.42 412.00 542.51 589.41 Bank Ltd Yes Bank 21 Active - 0.02 0.47 1.35 3.28 5.37 7.78 11.91 20.38 31.01 45.92 65.35 Ltd IDFC Bank 22 Active - - - - - - - - - - - 0.01 Ltd. Bandhan 23 Bank Active - - - - - - - - 0.02 0.06 0.42 0.54 Limited Total 829.36 1,128.52 1,553.49 2,128.12 2,694.42 3,380.28 4,140.94 5,012.62 6,086.96 7,033.83 8,278.96 9,607.76 *Source: Reserve Bank of India *****Annexure referred in Part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1195 for 10.2.2026 regarding Unclaimed amounts lying with banks Annexure-III Bank-wise Total Amount of Unclaimed Deposits (in ₹ Crore) with DEA Fund since Inception of the Fund – Foreign Banks As on S.no Name of 31.3.202 Status 31.3.2015 31.3.2016 31.3.2017 31.3.2018 31.3.2019 31.3.2020 31.3.2022 31.3.2023 31.3.2024 31.3.2025 28.1.2026 . Banks 1 AB Bank 1 Active Ltd 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.09 0.09 Abu Dhabi Commerci Merge 2 al Bank d 1.19 1.25 1.35 1.40 1.43 3.58 - - - - - - Ltd American Express 3 Banking Active - - 0.38 1.52 1.96 5.50 8.88 13.92 18.41 23.99 32.69 39.91 Corporatio n Antwerp Merge 4 Diamond - d - - - - - - - - - - - Bank N.V Australia and New 5 Zealand Active - - - - - - - - 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.06 Banking Group Ltd PT BANK MAYBAN 6 K Active 0.11 0.12 0.12 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 INDONES IA Bank of 7 America Active 9.81 11.64 14.57 24.13 27.12 31.41 36.07 38.76 44.05 47.14 48.84 51.81 N.A Bank of Bahrain & 8 Active Kuwait 0.81 0.94 1.04 1.11 1.12 1.39 1.90 2.04 2.13 2.41 2.50 2.64 BSC Bank of 9 Active Ceylon 0.49 0.50 0.52 0.54 0.54 1.61 1.75 1.90 1.97 1.21 1.21 1.21 The Bank 10 of Nova Active 0.89 0.98 1.25 1.28 2.63 2.77 3.09 3.36 3.56 3.61 4.19 4.22 ScotiaBank of Tokyo- 11 Mitsubishi Active 1.39 1.72 1.85 2.20 3.00 3.65 4.86 6.23 5.69 6.33 6.86 7.96 UFJ Ltd (MUFG) Barclays 12 Active Bank PLC 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.05 1.98 3.47 4.36 6.31 10.23 11.49 11.42 12.50 BNP 13 Active Paribas 5.19 7.98 9.38 10.83 12.81 14.74 16.17 16.55 19.19 20.05 21.11 21.54 CTBC 14 Bank Co., Active 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.11 0.14 0.20 0.24 0.25 0.27 0.30 Ltd Citibank 15 Active NA 76.33 138.94 200.62 251.20 307.84 350.05 406.74 484.41 543.70 974.05 935.73 912.17 Common Licens wealth e 16 Bank of - Cancel - - - - - - - - - - - Australia, led India Credit Agricole Corporate 17 Active & 0.08 0.77 0.87 3.58 4.13 4.21 4.26 4.28 4.58 4.61 4.61 4.61 Investmen t Bank Credit 18 Active - Suisse AG - - - - - - - - 0.01 - - DBS Bank 19 Active Ltd - - 0.09 0.21 0.33 0.54 0.86 4.60 100.79 112.10 124.91 136.51 Deutsche 20 Active Bank AG 9.32 13.99 22.14 28.54 39.50 45.57 54.29 62.06 72.49 80.67 89.49 100.05 FirstRand 21 Bank Ltd, Active - - - - - - - - - - - - India Hongkong & Shanghai 22 Banking Active 53.69 64.07 86.41 112.05 134.53 154.57 181.42 232.17 274.56 304.10 344.97 373.54 Corporatio n Ltd (HSBC) HSBC Bank 23 Closed - Oman 0.90 - - - - - - - - - - SAOG Industrial 24 And Active - - - - - - - - - - - - Commercial Bank of China Ltd. J.P. Morgan 25 Active Chase 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.15 0.39 0.80 1.48 1.56 1.72 1.74 Bank N.A JSC VTB 26 Active - Bank - - - - - - - 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.04 Krung Thai Bank 27 Public Active - - - - - - - - 0.07 0.07 - - Company Ltd. Mashreq 28 Active bank psc. 0.51 0.52 0.54 0.56 0.71 0.81 0.89 0.90 0.90 0.93 2.36 2.36 Mizuho 29 Active Bank Ltd - - 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.07 0.08 0.09 National 30 Australia Closed - - - - - - - - - - - - Bank Ltd Rabobank 31 Internation Active - - - - - - - - - - - - al The Royal Bank of Merge 32 - Scotland d 24.83 31.38 39.63 - - - - - - - - NV SBER 33 Active - Bank - - - - - - - - 0.01 0.01 0.04 Shinhan 34 Active Bank 0.04 0.08 0.13 0.17 0.19 0.31 0.42 0.53 0.74 1.40 2.06 2.58 Societe 35 Active Generale 0.14 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.29 0.37 0.38 0.38 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.40 Sonali 36 Active Bank Ltd 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.35 0.38 0.38 Standard 37 Chartered Active 129.16 152.94 179.12 216.32 259.90 295.86 344.74 383.99 438.89 478.80 505.35 529.61 Bank State Bank of 38 Active Mauritius 0.15 0.17 0.29 0.30 0.42 0.54 0.66 0.79 0.80 0.80 0.81 0.84 Ltd (SBM) Sumitomo Mitsui 39 Banking Active - - - - - - - - - - - - Corporatio nLicens e 40 UBS AG - Cancel - - - - - - - - - 0.02 0.04 led United 41 Overseas Active - - - - - - - - - - - - BankLtd Westpac Banking 42 Closed - Corporatio - - - - - - - - - - - n Woori 43 Active - Bank - - - - - - - 0.05 0.09 0.11 0.14 Doha 44 Bank QSC Active - 0.97 1.02 1.08 1.16 1.26 1.37 1.38 1.87 1.96 2.05 2.66 ,India First Abu Dhabi 45 Active - Bank - - - - - - - - - - - PJSC The Royal Bank of Scotland 46 plc Active - - 0.97 50.14 57.42 65.96 65.92 63.98 64.21 64.30 64.85 64.77 (Natwest Markets plc) Emirates 47 NBD Bank Active - - - - - - - - - - - - PJSC Industrial 48 Bank of Active - - - - - - - - - - - - Korea Qatar 49 National Active - - - - - - - - - - - - Bank SAQ KEB Hana 50 Active - Bank - - - - - - - - - - - Bank of 51 Active - China - - - - - - - - - - - Total 315.20 429.39 562.73 707.83 859.42 988.72 1,139.85 1,329.87 1,611.36 2,143.02 2,209.33 2,275.01 *Source: Reserve Bank of India *****