The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not have data on unclaimed deposits on the Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access inforMation (UDGAM) portal, a right to information (RTI) report filed with the central bank showed.
The central bank introduced the UDGAM portal on August 17 with facilities to claim unclaimed deposits from seven banks.
The RTI report asked for details of the total amount claimed by unclaimed depositors from the RBI’s UDGAM portal from the period of commencement, i.e. August 17, till date.
Also read: MC Explains | Unclaimed deposits with banks down to Rs 35,000 crore. What does it mean?
The portal
On April 6, the RBI, in its monetary policy, announced the development of a centralised web portal to search for unclaimed deposits. In the post policy press conference that month, RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao said the portal to reclaim unclaimed deposits would be ready in 3-4 months.
Accordingly, the central bank launched the UDGAM portal for the public to search unclaimed deposits across multiple banks at one place.
The launch of the web portal would aid users in identifying their unclaimed deposits and/or accounts and enable them to either claim the deposit amount or make their deposit accounts operative at their respective banks, the RBI said in a press release on August 17.
Reserve Bank Information Technology Pvt Ltd (ReBIT), Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS) and participating banks collaborated to develop the portal.
Users should be able to access details about their unclaimed deposits with seven banks that are on the portal. The banks are: State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd, South Indian Bank Ltd, DBS Bank India Ltd, and Citibank NA.
Also read: RBI launches centralised web portal 'UDGAM' for unclaimed deposits
The search facility for other banks on the portal will be made available in a phased manner, by October 15.
Total unclaimed deposits
Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Bhagwat Karad, in a written reply to Parliament on April 4, said that the total amount of unclaimed deposits transferred to the RBI by public sector banks (PSBs) fell to Rs 35,012 crore in February from Rs 48,262 crore in March 2022.
The fall in the amount simply means that customers have reclaimed their deposits from banks.
Of the Rs 35,012 crore in unclaimed deposits held by banks, India’s largest public sector bank, SBI, has the largest share of Rs 8,086 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank with Rs 5,340 crore, Canara Bank with Rs 4,558 crore and Bank of Baroda with Rs 3,904 crore.
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