RBI to Launch Web Portal for Public to Locate Unclaimed Deposits Across Banks

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced to launch a centralized web portal that will enable the public to access details of unclaimed deposits by depositors or their beneficiaries across various banks.

By the end of February 2023, there were about Rs 35,000 crore worth unclaimed deposits, which were transferred to RBI by public sector banks (PSBs). All these accounts were not operated for 10 years or more.

“In order to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries to such data, RBI has decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits based on user inputs,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for current financial year.

The search results will be enhanced by use of certain AI tools, he said.

State Bank of India (SBI) tops the chart of unclaimed deposits worth Rs 8,086 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank Rs 5,340 crore, Canara Bank Rs 4,558 crore and Bank of Baroda Rs 3,904 crore.

The deposits remaining unclaimed for 10 years in a bank are transferred to the ‘Depositor Education and Awareness’ (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).