Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will set up a centralised portal to help depositors and their beneficiaries to search for their unclaimed bank deposits that are older than 10 years.  

At the end of February 2023, Rs 35,012 crore worth of unclaimed deposits clogged the banking system.

Currently, customers have to go through websites of multiple banks to locate unclaimed bank deposits. The centralised portal will provide a single point for customers to find their unclaimed deposits. 

"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. This will help depositors and beneficiaries in getting back unclaimed deposits," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year.

The search results will be enhanced by use of certain AI tools, Das added. 

While State Bank of India (SBI) has the largest unclaimed deposits worth Rs 8,086 crore, Punjab National Bank has Rs 5,340 crore and Canara Bank Rs 4,558 crore. Bank of Baroda follows with Rs 3,904 crore of unclaimed deposits.

The deposits remaining unclaimed for 10 years in a bank are transferred to the 'Depositor Education and Awareness' (DEA) Fund maintained by the RBI.

Depositors’ protection being an overarching objective, RBI has been taking various measures to ensure that newer deposits do not turn unclaimed and existing unclaimed deposits are returned to the rightful owners or beneficiaries after following due procedure.

A deposit is considered to be unclaimed if there has been no activity on it for ten years or longer, be it deposit or withdrawal of funds.