FOR DUE DILIGENCE ON PF DUES

THIS October, the finance minister launched the nationwide campaign 'Your money, your right'. The objective is to make people aware of unclaimed funds and assets of up to ₹1.84 lakh crore lying with various authorities. Coming after the GST and income tax incentives, unleashing such idle funds could further help private consumption and economic growth.

- CKGNAIR & MS SAHOO

The expression 'your money' has three distinct dimensions. The first concerns 'unclaimed' assets-belonging to rightful owners who are unaware of their holdings. The solution lies in facilitating the 'claiming of the unclaimed' through greater awareness, accessibility, and procedural simplification.

The second dimension concerns 'withheld' assets, where the owners are aware of their assets but have been unable to claim them, often despite repeated efforts. While the awareness campaign is expected to increase the number of claims, its real success will depend on the response of the custodians of such claims. It calls for an institutional commitment to 'release the withheld' promptly and efficiently.

The third dimension concerns the flow of such assets, 'serve the claimed'. Custodians must proactively identify, trace, and return assets to their owners before they become unclaimed. This forward-looking approach will give full effect to the campaign's principle.

The Reserve Bank seems to have become active on all three dimensions since launching the unified database for unclaimed deposits or UDGAM portal in August 2023. Further, this September 26, it issued directions simplifying procedures for settling accounts of deceased depositors to nominees or to legal heirs. Shortly thereafter, it introduced an innovative, incentive-based scheme to reduce the stock of unclaimed deposits in the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund.