Lok Sabha Question No. 1472 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-01
Subject: Unclaimed Bank Deposits
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sudheer Gupta, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1472 TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, JULY 1, 2019/ Ashadha 10, 1941 (Saka) UNCLAIMED BANK DEPOSITS

## 1472. SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO; SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA; SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  is  huge  unclaimed  deposits  in  various  banks  and  insurance companies in the country;
- (b) if  so, the details thereof during each of the last three years and the current year, bank and insurance company-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has any norms to deal with such deposits in banks and insurance companies and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government has any proposal to utilise such deposits for the welfare activities  of  social  disadvantaged  groups  in  the  country  and  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## FINANCE MINISTER (SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

(a) and (b) : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that the unclaimed deposits reported  by  Scheduled  Commercial  Banks  to  RBI  as  per  Section  26  of  the  Banking Regulation Act, 1949 for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 are as under:

|   Year |   Total Unclaimed deposits of Scheduled Commercial Banks (Amount in billion rupees) |
|--------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   2016 |                                                                               89.28 |
|   2017 |                                                                              114.94 |
|   2018 |                                                                              145.78 |

The bank-wise details are given in the Annex .

The  Insurance  Regulatory  and  Development  Authority  of  India  (IRDAI)  has  informed that  the  details  of  the  unclaimed  amounts  reported  by  the  life  and  non-life  insurance companies are as under:

| As on      | Unclaimed Deposits            | Unclaimed Deposits                |
|------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|            | Life Insurers (In Rs. crores) | Non-Life Insurers (In Rs. crores) |
| 31.03.2016 | 10527.17                      | 1249.15                           |
| 31.03.2017 | 10471.50                      | 889.62                            |
| 31.03.2018 | 15229.53                      | 847.54                            |
| 30.09.2018 | 16887.66                      | 989.62                            |

The insurance company-wise details are given in the Annex .

(c) and (d) : As far as unclaimed deposits in banks are concerned, in pursuance of the amendment to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and insertion of Section 26A in the said  Act,  RBI  has  framed  the  Depositor  Education  and  Awareness  Fund  (DEAF) Scheme, 2014. The Scheme was notified in the Official Gazette on 24.05.2014. In terms of the Scheme, banks calculate the cumulative balances in all accounts which are not operated upon for a period of 10 years or more (or any amount remaining unclaimed for 10 years or more) along with interest accrued and transfer such amounts to the DEAF. In case of demand from a customer whose unclaimed deposit had been transferred to the  DEAF,  banks  are  required  to  repay  the  customer,  along  with  interest  if  any,  and lodge a claim for refund from the DEAF. The rate of interest payable on interest bearing deposits transferred to the Fund was initially 4% p.a. which has been changed to 3.5% p.a.  with  effect  from  01.07.2018.  The  DEAF  is  utilized  for  promotion  of  depositors' interests  and  for  such  other  purposes  which  may  be  necessary  for  promotion  of depositors' interest as may be specified by the RBI.

As  far  as  unclaimed  amounts  in  insurance  companies  are  concerned,  as  per  the provisions  brought  in  by  the  Finance  Act,  2015,  the  Government  of  India  notified  the Senior Citizens' Welfare Fund (SCWF) Rules, 2015, which were subsequently amended in the years 2016 and 2017 and made applicable to insurers.   As per the Rules, entities having unclaimed amounts for more than 10 years are required to transfer the amounts to the SCWF on or before 1 st March every year.   The SCWF is utilized for schemes for promoting the welfare of senior citizens. If a claim is made, insurers are required to pay the  identified  unclaimed  amount  along  with  the  investment  income  so  credited  to  the policyholders or beneficiaries, as per the procedure.

***

## 1. Bank Group-wise details of unclaimed deposits reported to RBI:

( In Rs. )

| Bank                 | 2016          | 2017           | 2018           |
|----------------------|---------------|----------------|----------------|
| Sate Bank of India   | 16975149999   | 12621162984    | 21563310036    |
| Nationalised Banks   | 58286708734   | 82907780921    | 99193782095    |
| Private Banks        | 11238024860   | 14163762310    | 18515610576    |
| Foreign Banks        | 2145932405    | 3329132638     | 3769669128     |
| Regional Rural Banks | 636511638     | 1920567773     | 2716709989     |
| Small Finance Banks  |               |                | 24289452       |
| Grand Total          | 89.28 billion | 114.94 billion | 145.78 billion |

## 2. Insurance company-wise details of unclaimed deposits:

## (a) Non-Life Insurance Companies:

## ANNEX

(Rs. crores)

| SN   | Name of the Insurer                         | As on:     | As on:     | As on:     | As on:     |
|------|---------------------------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
|      |                                             | 30.09.2018 | 31.03.2018 | 31.03.2017 | 31.03.2016 |
| 1    | Acko General Insurance Co. Ltd.             | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       |
| 2    | Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 7.42       | 10.72      | 9.95       | 72.74      |
| 3    | Bharati AXA General Insurance Co. Ltd.      | 37.55      | 23.23      | 24.47      | 18.80      |
| 4    | Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd. | 8.02       | 7.97       | 15.68      | 12.09      |
| 5    | DHFL Genderal Insurance Co. Ltd,.           | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       |
| 6    | Edelweiss General Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       |
| 7    | Future Generali India Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 28.94      | 5.29       | 5.12       | 4.80       |
| 8    | Go Digit General Insurance Co. Ltd.         | 0.04       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       |
| 9    | HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 19.26      | 18.93      | 21.82      | 13.31      |
| 10   | ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 155.38     | 126.09     | 133.02     | 123.14     |
| 11   | Iffco Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd.      | 26.78      | 25.25      | 40.56      | 31.03      |
| 12   | Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Co. Ltd.   | 0.05       | 0.03       | 0.02       | 0.00       |
| 13   | Liberty General Insurance Co. Ltd.          | 3.30       | 0.43       | 0.36       | 0.09       |
| 14   | L&T General Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 1.62       |
| 15   | Magma HDI General Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 1.35       | 1.22       | 1.21       | 0.78       |
| 16   | RAHEJA QBE General Insurance Co. Ltd.       | 0.31       | 0.14       | 0.03       | 0.22       |
| 17   | Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd.         | 75.29      | 74.46      | 72.08      | 50.46      |
| 18   | Royal Sundaram General Insurance Co. Ltd.   | 4.60       | 11.18      | 12.29      | 12.58      |
| 19   | SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 4.44       | 3.87       | 2.58       | 2.25       |
| 20   | Shriram General .Insurance Co. Ltd.         | 22.36      | 20.59      | 19.44      | 12.24      |
| 21   | Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd.         | 20.40      | 24.19      | 26.89      | 19.57      |
| 22   | Universal Sompo General Insurance Co. Ltd.  | 3.41       | 3.43       | 2.56       | 5.77       |
| 23   | Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd.      | 0.20       | 0.00       | 0.00       | 0.00       |
| 24   | Apollo MUNICH Health Insurance Co. Ltd.     | 4.29       | 2.65       | 2.41       | 2.45       |
| 25   | CIGNA TTK Health Insurance Co. Ltd.         | 0.81       | 0.42       | 0.77       | 2.37       |
| 26   | Max Bupa Health Insurance Co. Ltd.          | 1.54       | 1.36       | 1.65       | 2.69       |
| 27   | Religare Health Insurance Co. Ltd.          | 2.63       | 1.44       | 0.71       | 0.51       |
| 28   | Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd.   | 2.67       | 0.35       | 1.29       | 0.81       |
|      | Pvt. Total                                  | 431.04     | 363.24     | 394.91     | 390.32     |

| 29   | National Insurance Co. Ltd.     |   102.85 |   84.01 |   85.13 |   74.70 |
|------|---------------------------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|
| 30   | New India Assurance Co. Ltd.    |   180.66 |  116.95 |  138.75 |  140.81 |
| 31   | The Oriental Insurance Co. ltd. |    78.85 |   73.07 |   68.07 |   58.86 |
| 32   | United India Insurance Co. Ltd. |   172.76 |  167.11 |  162.2  |  143.68 |
|      | PSU Total                       |   535.12 |  441.14 |  454.15 |  418.05 |
| 33   | AIC of India Ltd.               |    22.2  |   41.57 |   38.87 |  438.99 |
| 34   | ECGC Ltd.                       |     1.26 |    1.59 |    1.69 |    1.79 |
|      | Specialised Total               |    23.46 |   43.16 |   40.56 |  440.78 |
|      | Grand Total                     |   989.62 |  847.54 |  889.62 | 1249.15 |

## (b) Life Insurance Companies:

(Rs. crores)

| SN   | Name of the Insurer                        | As on      | As on      | As on      | As on      |
|------|--------------------------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
|      |                                            | 30.09.2018 | 31.03.2018 | 31.03.2017 | 31.03.2016 |
| 1    | Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd.   | 283.54     | 257.72     | 236.25     | 230.99     |
| 2    | Aegon Life Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 48.38      | 40.36      | 45.55      | 57.41      |
| 3    | Aviva Life Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 193.04     | 190.65     | 249.52     | 216.62     |
| 4    | Bajaj Life Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 616.86     | 611.69     | 555.76     | 466.02     |
| 5    | Bharati AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 79.23      | 74.81      | 55.76      | 60.77      |
| 6    | Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 14.71      | 15.72      | 15.42      | 34.84      |
| 7    | DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Co. Ltd.     | 16.41      | 17.89      | 21.88      | 10.95      |
| 8    | Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 2.74       | 1.37       | 1.08       | 2.08       |
| 9    | Exide Life Insurance Co. Ltd.              | 58.99      | 61.88      | 65.62      | 63.50      |
| 10   | Future Generali Life Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 70.65      | 70.50      | 49.05      | 39.55      |
| 11   | HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd.      | 358.89     | 659.30     | 767.20     | 711.23     |
| 12   | ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.   | 727.86     | 807.40     | 659.04     | 495.65     |
| 13   | IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd.       | 6.49       | 9.85       | 2.13       | 8.71       |
| 14   | India First Life Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 40.62      | 26.28      | 59.80      | 81.54      |
| 15   | Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd.     | 39.51      | 32.26      | 32.37      | 30.87      |
| 16   | Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd.                | 48.83      | 38.17      | 49.88      | 213.38     |
| 17   | PNB MetLife Insurance Co. Ltd.             | 240.42     | 203.46     | 210.34     | 221.16     |
| 18   | Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Co. Ltd.    | 358.89     | 696.12     | 492.13     | 562.93     |
| 19   | Sahara indiaLife Insurance Co. Ltd.        | 29.39      | 10.47      | 2.15       | 2.05       |
| 20   | SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.                | 523.24     | 678.59     | 568.30     | 653.38     |
| 21   | Shriram Life Insurance Co. Ltd.            | 63.93      | 61.92      | 53.81      | 64.07      |
| 22   | Star Union Di ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | 22.76      | 20.07      | 64.43      | 126.64     |
| 23   | Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd.           | 150.26     | 134.05     | 306.12     | 238.41     |
|      | Sub-Total                                  | 3995.64    | 4720.51    | 4563.59    | 4592.75    |
| 24   | LIC of India                               | 12892.02   | 10509.02   | 5907.91    | 5934.42    |
|      | Total                                      | 16887.66   | 15229.53   | 10471.50   | 10527.17   |

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