Parul
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a series of commonly asked questions (FAQs) regarding its UDGAM portal, aimed at assisting individuals in recovering their funds trapped in unclaimed deposits or accounts held by banks.
The six FAQs provide detailed information on the centralized data available on the portal, which can aid in locating these accounts from approximately 30 banks.
*What is the UDGAM portal?
The UDGAM portal stands for Unclaimed Deposits-Gateway to Access inforMation. It is an online platform developed by the RBI that enables registered users to search for unclaimed deposits or accounts across multiple banks in a centralized manner.
*Are all banks included in the UDGAM portal?
What percentage of unclaimed deposits do they represent? No, as of March 4, 2024, only 30 banks are part of the UDGAM portal. These banks account for approximately 90% of unclaimed deposits (in terms of value) in the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund of the RBI. The list of these banks can be found on the home page of UDGAM and in the RBI Press Release dated October 5, 2023. The remaining banks are currently in the process of joining the portal.
*What are the types of deposits/accounts covered in UDGAM portal?
All unclaimed deposits/accounts that are part of Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund of RBI can be searched in UDGAM portal.
*What inputs are required to search unclaimed deposits of (a) individuals and (b) non-individuals on UDGAM portal?
A user is required to register on the portal by providing his/her name and mobile number.
(The user manual available on the portal elucidates the detailed process of registration and use of the portal).
Individuals: For searching unclaimed deposits in individual categories, a user has to provide inputs such as the name of the account holder, the name of the bank (one or more banks can be selected) and any one or more of the five inputs viz., Permanent Account Number (PAN), Driving License Number, Voter ID Number, Passport Number and Date of Birth of the account holder.
Non-Individuals: For searching unclaimed deposits in the non-individual category, a user has to provide inputs such as the name of the entity, the name of the bank (one or more banks can be selected) and any one or more of the four inputs viz., Name of the authorised signatory, PAN, Corporate Identification Number (CIN) and Date of Incorporation.
Even if none of the above-mentioned information is available, the user can type the address of the account holder or the entity (as the case may be), in place of these inputs mentioned above for undertaking the search.
*Whether user can settle/claim his/her unclaimed deposits through UDGAM portal or from RBI?
No, the UDGAM portal facilitates only (a) the search of unclaimed deposits/accounts across multiple banks at one place and (b) provides information on the claim/settlement process of each bank (which will be available in the search result). The unclaimed deposits can be claimed only from the respective bank.
*What is Unclaimed Deposit Reference Number (UDRN)?
UDRN is a unique number generated through Core Banking Solution (CBS) by banks and assigned to each Unclaimed account/ deposit transferred to Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund of RBI. This number is used so that the account holder or the bank branch where the account is maintained, cannot be identified by any third party.
The UDRN enables the bank branches to seamlessly settle claims received from the customers/depositors, who have made successful searches in the UDGAM portal. All the 30 banks on-boarded to the UDGAM portal have put in place necessary requirements to generate UDRN during the development of the portal.
