Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 2 India is living with a silent economic paradox, wealth that belongs to Indians, yet lies unclaimed across institutions. The recent calls by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorting Indians to come forward and claim unclaimed bank accounts, insurance dues, dividends, and investments have brought this increasing concern into the national forefront yet again. Estimates suggest that over ₹1 lakh crore is languishing unclaimed in the form of unclaimed financial dues.
Unclaimed assets are not only due to negligence. In truth, they can be due to life occurrences like moving, loss of hard copies of investments, failure to inform about an address change, missed dematerialisation deadlines, or even death of investors who did not plan for transfers. Over time, dividends go unclaimed, stocks become dormant, and ultimately many investments end up being transferred to statutory mechanisms like the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), making it even more difficult for them to be reclaimed by rightful holders or legitimate heirs.
The recent effort of the government, which includes awareness programs where they encourage citizens to check government sites and use official search platforms and attend facilitation camps, is praiseworthy in itself. But what lends strength to this effort is the dissemination of an important fact: this money belongs to citizens, and they have the right to claim it back, subject to verification and documentation; but the challenge of implementation continues to remain daunting for the average citizen. The procedure for unclaimed shares, dividends, or insurance claims takes months, if not years, to accomplish for most people.This is exactly where claim support-either through professional assistance-becomes important.
We see, at Clearclaim, how families discover lost investments in the lakhs or even crores that they had made several years ago. This could easily be due to some documents lying within a cupboard, or due to some dividends that had not been encashed, or some insurance policy that the family members may not have been aware of. But the fact is, most people give up on the search along the way.Our aim is to simplify a complex, document-heavy process. We help clients end-to-end with recovery of old shares and unclaimed dividends, demat conversion of physical shares, transmission of shares on the death of a shareowner, recovery of lost shares, and IEPF claims. And, most importantly, we do all this in a transparent, compliant, time-bound, and legal manner, making it absolutely clear to clients where their application stands at all times.
The Prime Minister’s call is not just a reminder; it’s a wake-up call. The Indian financial system is undergoing rapid change, but some old investments are at risk if they are not dealt with pro-actively. As nuclear families and generations change, undocumented wealth can potentially be lost permanently. Unclaimed assets are not just about money, they are about financial dignity and the power of rightful ownership and security that passes down through the generations. With the right knowledge and the right timing, Indians have the potential to recover what already belongs to them. For more information please visit www.clearclaim.in
