On 17 March 2026, during a hearing of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by this writer on unclaimed financial assets, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan, informed the Supreme Court that the government, had promised that a central database would be created and operational by July 2023. But 2.5 years later, it had not been done. The Court had directed the finance ministry and other regulators to file updated affidavits by 5 May 2026.
Here’s what happened on 29 May 2026. The finance ministry quietly launched, what it called, a single unified online platform for citizens to search and trace unclaimed bank deposits, insurance claims, shares and mutual funds across the financial ecosystem (https://www.unclaimedassetsportal.in).
This is only a common landing page for unclaimed funds which merely redirects users to regulator-specific platforms: RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India’s) UDGAM for bank deposits; IRDAI’s (insurance regulatory and development authority of India’s) Bima Bharosa for insurance; SEBI’s (Securities and Exchange Board of India’s) MITRA for mutual funds; and IEPF (investor education and protection fund) Authority’s IEPFA for shares and dividends under the ministry of corporate affairs.
It is a far cry from the unified, centralised, publicly searchable database of unclaimed deposits, shares, dividends, mutual funds, insurance proceeds and other financial assets that formed the core demand of my PIL (No. 185 of 2022). Nevertheless, it marks a move, even if limited, in the right direction.
This landing page, along with UDGAM, Bima Bharosa and recent efforts to improve access to IEPFA, represents significant progress since the Supreme Court admitted my petition in 2022 and issued notices to the government and financial regulators. It is also positive that the government, including the prime minister’s office, has acknowledged the enormity of the problem of over ₹2 lakh crore of private money lying unclaimed in various government pools (Forgotten Wealth of Ordinary Indians: Over Rs2 Lakh Crore Locked in Unclaimed Assets).
This recognition has led to government-led awareness campaigns evocatively titled ‘Aapki Poonji Aapka Adhikaar’ (Your Money, Your Right) aimed at tracing beneficial owners. According to the finance ministry, the three-month campaign that began in October 2025, involving coordinated efforts by four regulators, resulted in the restitution of ₹6,453 crore to rightful owners. The break-up is: ₹4,326 crore restored in bank deposits to 1.1mn (million) beneficiaries, ₹470 crore to 355,000 mutual fund-holders and ₹1,658 crore in insurance proceeds to 1.24mn beneficiaries.
It is a good beginning, but it remains a drop in the ocean. RBI alone holds over ₹78,000 crore in its depositor education and awareness fund (DEAF), with another ₹1 lakh crore estimated in dormant bank accounts awaiting transfer.
Cosmetic Centralisation
That the government has conceptually accepted the need for a single gateway is welcome. Yet, the landing page falls far short of what my PIL sought and what was recommended by the expert committee set up by the then chief justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in May 2023 to examine volatility in Adani group shares.
“There is a need to create a centralised, searchable database of unclaimed money and property of the general public that gets transferred to government-owned repositories such as the Depositor’s Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) and IEPF on the premise that the property is not claimed by legal heirs or nominees.”
“The core objective of the database should be to ‘reunite unclaimed property (including all financial assets) with the rightful owner’ and, towards this end, enable proven legal heirs to get a full picture of the investments and savings of the deceased and claim their money/bequest in a smooth and efficient manner.”
“In order to be effective, a statutory central authority, backed by the appropriate legislation, must be empowered to track the rightful owner, resolve grievances and deal with security and privacy concerns.”
“It is only when the databases are interoperable and integrated that the system would be effective. This will involve legal mandates and organisational structure, with holistic IT-based automated processes.”
“The authority must create standard operating procedures since even within the same class of institutions (say, a bank, different managers add their own rules and demand sureties, fixed deposits, indemnity, etc) in connection with honouring claims.”
During Court hearings, government representatives and regulators have argued that simplifying identity verification could increase the risk of fraud. This concern remains speculative and unproven. Even setting it aside, the finance ministry can surely do far more than offer a mere landing page, if it is serious about improving recovery of unclaimed money.
To be fair, every financial regulator has worked to improve its own systems, but they continue to operate in silos. This forces beneficial owners, particularly legal heirs dealing with assets across categories, to make repetitive submissions. There is also little effort to standardise and emulate the best innovations introduced by individual regulators.
Specific improvements, partly driven by the PIL, include:
RBI’s revised death claim settlement guidelines issued in November 2025 which introduced simplified standard operating procedures (SOPs) and set timelines for transmission, with compensation for delays.
SEBI has undertaken the most extensive reforms on transmission of assets, including detailed timelines, SOPs, creation of a centralised KRA (KYC registration agency) and a centralised death reporting system, in 2024. Under this system, submission of a simple death certificate triggers notifications across all intermediaries, leading to specific actions. SEBI has also integrated with DigiLocker, allowing investors to store holdings and appoint a ‘data access nominee’ who is automatically notified upon the investor’s death. In addition, SEBI has strengthened the MITRA platform for tracing unclaimed mutual fund folios.
Integrating Positives
Many of these positive features could easily be integrated into the unclaimed assets portal to make it far more meaningful and improve the asset discovery process. Since people hold investments across asset classes, it should be possible to trigger a single unified search query using one set of inputs, such as a deceased person’s name, PAN or address, across multiple bank accounts, mutual fund schemes and even insurance policies belonging to the same claimant, to aid discovery.
Centralised submission of basic know-your-customer (KYC) documents, such as self-attested PAN card, Aadhaar and cancelled cheque, could form part of the initial claim process and permit a search for unclaimed assets across portals.
Adopting the best features from each regulator would further enhance ‘Ease of Living’. For instance, SEBI’s death registry and centralised KRA system could be expanded to trigger alerts across asset classes in the same way that it currently alerts market intermediaries. Once basic identification is completed, a seamless search process across sub-portals should follow, without repetitive form filling and submissions. Final transmission or restitution could still require minimal additional verification and documentation by individual regulators.
Over time, the unclaimed assets portal should also cover provident funds and post-office savings schemes. The very purpose of seeking a statutory centralised database was to avoid coordination challenges and turf battles between regulators and ministries. The best way to achieve this would have been through a statutory central authority backed by legislation.
The landing page is a welcome first step, but claimants and legal heirs, who are at the heart of my PIL, will continue to face a fragmented, document-heavy maze. The Supreme Court’s continued scrutiny may determine whether the government finally delivers the genuine centralised, searchable database. Perhaps this is another task for the economic advisory council to the prime minister to take up.
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