Inoperative Accounts

How to Claim Unclaimed Deposits from Banks

Unclaimed deposit: Unclaimed deposits are deposits where the proceeds/maturity amount has not been claimed for a period of 10 years or more. In other words, CASA, term deposits are deemed unclaimed if they are inactive/inoperative for more than 10 years.

•  Visit the Parent branch of your bank and submit the unclaimed deposits claim form.
•  Attach the relevant documents with your form, which prove that you are indeed the legal heir/nominee/owner of the unclaimed account.
•  Bank will scrutinize your documents and verify them before the claim can be settled. Therefore, you must submit authentic, original papers, along with the identity and address proof.
•  For instance, if you are the legal heir of the original account holder, you will be asked to submit the proof that establishes you as the heir, along with the death certificate of the deceased. Similarly, if you are claiming funds from a company/institution’s account, you will need to submit the request on the official letterhead of the firm in question, with signatures from necessary authorities.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification on Depositor Education Awareness Fund (DEA Fund), funds in accounts/deposits that are inoperative/unclaimed for 10 years or more are transferred to the RBI DEA Fund Scheme along with interest. If the customer has identified any such deposit, they can claim their fund by visiting the Parent Branch and submit relevant form along with KYC documents

Conversion of Inoperative Accounts to Operative status

Inoperative Account: A savings/ current account shall be treated as inoperative, if there are no ‘customer induced transactions’ in the account for a period of over two years.

How to activate Inoperative account

•  Visit the Parent branch or any branch and submit the related forms to make account operative.
•  Attach the relevant KYC documents (address proof, id proof, passport size photograph and customer profile as per the Bank’s KYC Policy as amended from time to time).
•  Bank will scrutinize documents and verify them before conversion of account from Inoperative to Operative.
•  Financial transaction is mandatory after the activation of account.

Inoperative Accounts / Unclaimed Deposits (For 10 Years or more) as on June 30, 2025