₹67,000cr unclaimed deposits lying with banks: Government
What's the story
The Indian government has revealed that more than ₹67,000 crore in unclaimed deposits is lying with public and private sector banks. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary made the revelation in Lok Sabha on Monday. He said that as of June 30, 2025, public sector banks (PSBs) had transferred ₹58,330.26 crore while private sector banks had contributed ₹8,673.72 crore to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund.
Bank contributions
SBI, PNB, Canara Bank top the list
The State Bank of India (SBI) leads the PSB category with ₹19,329.92 crore in unclaimed deposits. It is followed by Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank with ₹6,910.67 crore and ₹6,278.14 crore, respectively. Among private banks, ICICI Bank has the highest amount at ₹2,063.45 crore followed by HDFC Bank at ₹1,609.56 crore and Axis Bank at ₹1,360.16 crore, respectively.
Fund details
What is the DEA fund?
The DEA Fund Scheme, 2014, mandates the transfer of unclaimed balances in savings and current accounts that have been inactive for over 10 years. This also applies to term deposits that remain unclaimed for a decade after maturity. However, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are not required to transfer such funds to the DEA fund under this scheme.
Action plan
Measures taken to address unclaimed deposits issue
To tackle the problem of unclaimed deposits, banks have been asked to publish lists of inoperative accounts on their websites and actively trace customers or legal heirs. They also need to set up a grievance redressal mechanism and maintain board-approved policies for classifying and reviewing unclaimed accounts. The RBI has also launched an online platform called UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits - Gateway to Access Information) for the public to search for unclaimed deposits across different banks.