Banks sitting on `67K-cr unclaimed deposits

New Delhi: Unclaimed deposits with banks, including private lenders, stood at Rs67,003 crore at the end of June 2025, Parliament was informed on Monday. As of June 30, 2025, public-sector banks were saddled with unclaimed deposits of Rs58,330.26 crore, while private sector had Rs8,673.72 crore, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Of the public-sector banks, SBI is leading the pack with unclaimed deposits of Rs19,329.92 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank Rs6,910.67 crore and Canara Bank Rs6,278.14 crore, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Among the private sector banks, ICICI Bank has the highest unclaimed deposits of Rs2,063.45 crore, followed by HDFC Bank Rs1,609.56 crore and Axis Bank Rs1,360.16 crore, he said.

To enhance accessibility and simplify the search process for unclaimed deposits, RBI has launched the Centralised Web Portal UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits- Gateway to Access Information) for public.

“As on July 1, 2025, 8,59,683 users registered and accessed UDGAM portal. The said portal facilitates the registered users to search unclaimed deposits/ amounts across multiple banks at one place in a centralized manner,” he said.

With regard to utilisation of unclaimed fund, RBI has stated that as per the provisions of The Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme (Scheme), 2014, there shall be a committee to administer and manage the fund in accordance with the scheme, the minister said. The fund shall be utilised for promotion of depositors’ interest and for such other purposes which may be necessary for promotion of depositors’ interest, as specified by RBI. Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the government has no plans of launching Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) for respective Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) in order to integrate them into mainstream financial market.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued advisories warning users, holders, and traders of virtual currencies or crypto assets about the potential risks, including economic, financial, operational, legal, and security concerns, he said.