New Delhi, December 2 – Indian banks have returned unclaimed deposits worth over ₹10,000 crore to customers in the past three years, according to information provided by the government in Parliament.
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhry said that from April 2022 to November 2025, banks (both government and private) have identified the rightful owners of lakhs of inactive or dormant accounts and returned the money to them.
Under the Reserve Bank of India’s Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund Scheme, banks are required to transfer unclaimed deposits from savings, current and fixed deposit accounts to a central fund managed by RBI after 10 years.
The Union Minister informed that as of June 30, 2025, public sector banks have transferred more than ₹58,000 crore to this fund, with State Bank of India (SBI) alone contributing ₹19,330 crore.
Private banks have transferred ₹9,000 crore to this fund, with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank having the highest share.
To ensure these amounts reach the rightful owners, RBI has issued clear instructions to banks to trace account holders, publish lists of unclaimed accounts on their websites, maintain proper grievance redressal systems and actively search for heirs of deceased customers.
The government launched the ‘Aapki Punji, Aapka Adhikar’ (Your Money, Your Right) campaign in October 2025 for unclaimed deposits.
Public sector banks have settled more than 22 lakh unclaimed accounts since 2022 and returned approximately ₹8,460 crore to customers or their legal heirs.
SBI leads this list, having settled more than 16 lakh unclaimed accounts and returned ₹3,868 crore to customers or their legal heirs.
Central Bank of India has also returned more than ₹1,262 crore, while Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank have also settled significant amounts.
Private banks have also settled around 11 lakh accounts during this period and returned approximately ₹900 crore.
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