Plea for unified portal on locked-up funds

The Supreme Court (SC) has agreed to examine a public interest petition seeking the creation of a centralized digital platform that would allow individuals to track all their financial assetswhether active, dormant or unclaimed-across banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, and other regulated entities.

- Krishna Yadav

Depending on how the petition moves forward and its eventual outcome, it could be a boost to efforts to free such locked-up capital in millions of accounts. Financial experts have for long pointed out how unclaimed capital makes savers and their families poorer and results in a drain on productivity in the economy.

The petition, filed by social activist Aakash Goel, highlighted that unclaimed money to the tune of ₹3.5 trillion remains inaccessible because of scattered accounts, missing nominee details, and the absence of a unified registry.