Kamal Ghorui
More than Rs 72,000 crore in unclaimed bank deposits, including amounts lying with foreign lenders, have been transferred to a fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the government told Parliament on Tuesday. The money is held in the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund and reflects balances that have remained untouched for a decade or more.Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said deposits in savings or current accounts that remain inoperative for 10 years, or term deposits not claimed within 10 years from maturity, are classified as unclaimed and shifted to the DEA Fund managed by the RBI.
PSU banks account for bulk of unclaimed money
Data shared with Parliament showed that public sector banks account for the largest share of such deposits. As of January 28, 2026, unclaimed deposits with state-owned banks stood at Rs 60,571.02 crore. Private sector banks held Rs 9,607.76 crore, while foreign banks accounted for Rs 2,275.01 crore.Taken together, unclaimed deposits across the banking system totalled Rs 72,454 crore as of the same date, Chaudhary said.
Steps to help depositors trace their money
To reduce the stock of unclaimed deposits and prevent fresh accumulation, the government and the RBI have rolled out several measures. These include the launch of a centralised online platform, UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access Information), which allows the public to search for unclaimed deposits across multiple banks at one place, reported PTI.The minister also said the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, has introduced provisions allowing customers to make multiple nominations, up to four, either successive or simultaneous, to improve the chances of rightful claimants accessing deposits.
How DEA funds are being used
Chaudhary said the DEA Fund is also used to finance initiatives aimed at improving financial awareness. These include programmes for financial literacy among excluded sections, seminars on safe and secure banking practices, and funding research and projects related to depositor education.
Priority sector boost for cooperative lending
Replying to another question, the minister said loans sanctioned by banks to the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) from January 19, 2026, for on-lending to cooperative societies, will qualify as priority sector lending. This applies to banks other than regional rural banks, urban cooperative banks, small finance banks and local area banks, and is subject to conditions under the Master Direction on Priority Sector Lending, 2025.
NIIF corpus and unsecured loan trends
Chaudhary also informed Parliament that the total corpus of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) stood at Rs 33,249 crore as of December 2025, with investments spread across 24 entities in sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy, healthcare and manufacturing.On unsecured personal loans, he said outstanding amounts of scheduled commercial banks rose to Rs 9,53,181 crore as of March 31, 2025, though the share of unsecured retail loans in total retail advances has declined to 25.2 per cent from 28 per cent in March 2023.The RBI, he added, continues to take regulatory steps to manage risks and safeguard financial stability.
