ET Wealth estimates that investors’ investor assets worth over Rs 82,000 crore are lying unclaimed in forgotten and lost investments. The inactive bank accounts have unclaimed deposits, maturity income of sluggish policies in insurance companies, and even life savings of persons locked in passive Provident Fund accounts.
The note of congratulations led to a completely unexpected result. Over the next few weeks, there was a shocking panic of redemption requests from many longtime investors. When he received the note from the fund house, he has to remember and decided to withdraw these funds, says a financial adviser.
In another case, financial planning firm Bajaj Capital contacted an avid Chawla mutual fund investor who suddenly stopped investing a few years ago. They were shocked to know that the investor had died, but the family did not know anything about the investment he had made.
Stories like this are common across the country. ET Wealth estimates that investors’ investor assets worth over Rs 82,000 crore are lying unclaimed in forgotten and lost investments. The inactive bank accounts have unclaimed deposits, maturity income of sluggish policies in insurance companies, and even life savings of persons locked in passive Provident Fund accounts. There are also mutual fund investments that no one is aware of and dividends that have not gone to cash in for years.
Such situations can be avoided if investors keep their family in the loop while making a financial investment, says Vikas Jain, co-founder of Share Samdhan, a firm that helps investors or their legal heirs to find out and recover lost and forgotten investments. They do all the paperwork and law work instead of a fee.
The good news is that regulators have taken steps to make it easier for the right owners to get their money back. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made it mandatory for all insurance companies to display unclaimed amount information if the amount exceeds Rs 1,000. SEBI has made it mandatory for mutual fund houses to provide details of unclaimed investment stakes on their websites. You can check whether there is any unclaimed amount by the investor’s name and the key only in the PAN.
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