Return of unclaimed deposits will take time, says Nirmala Sitharaman

The finance minister was speaking in Mumbai on the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing nine years.

The return of unclaimed bank deposits and other financial sector claims will "take time", Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Speaking to the media in Mumbai on May 29, the finance minister said the issue had to be handled "very carefully" due to the legal issues involved.

"...if some deposit or share does not have a nominee, then finding out who the nominee could be and establishing the identity of the legal inheritor and then giving the asset without any further litigation takes time. This process can't be sped up," Sitharaman said.

"There can be several legal aspects which have to be completely satisfied and then only clearance of that money can happen. So it will take time. Let us not be under an illusion that the government can clear the money tomorrow. No, we can't clear it tomorrow," she added.

Sitharaman's comments come after she called on India's regulators to conduct a 'special drive' to settle unclaimed bank deposits and financial sector claims at the meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council earlier this month on May 8.

Following the finance minister's directive, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 12 announced that it would be launching a '100 Days 100 Pays' campaign on June 1. Under this campaign, banks would trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district within 100 days.

The launch of the RBI's campaign came after it said on April 6 that it would develop a web portal, which would allow the public to search for possible unclaimed deposits across multiple banks.

Bank deposits that are not claimed for 10 years are transferred to the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness Fund. Currently, banks display the list of unclaimed deposits on their website.