Lost track of your shares, debentures? There's a way to get them back

Lost your phone, wallet, laptop, or other such material thing? There’s always a way to track those down and retrieve them. But what happens if you lose track, or forget about your shares, investments, dividends, and other financial assets? Is there a way to get them back? Yes, there is, although it is rather complicated. Read on to know all about getting back your lost financial assets.

Unclaimed shares, dividends, and deposits
Funds accumulated under the following heads, which have remained unclaimed consecutively for 7 years, are eventually transferred to the IEPF, or the Investor Education and Protection fund.

• Dividends (Both unpaid and unclaimed)
• Matured deposits and debentures
• Proceeds from the redemption of preference shares
• Share application funds that remain unclaimed after a company’s share allotmentAs of January 31, 2023, the IEPF stood at Rs 5,675.25 crore, per Lok Sabha data. The figure has been steadily rising, inching up from Rs 1,672 crore in 2016–17 to Rs 5,262.25 crore in 2021–22. One of the many reasons for this uptick is the low, delayed approval rate for these claims.

Slow Response
Sample this. Data from Lok Sabha documents suggests that until January 31st, 2023, IEPF had received around 30,317 claims, but approved only 8,216 of them. The average approval time, in many cases, can go up to 200 days. But nevertheless, this should not deter you from claiming what is rightfully yours. Here’s the procedure to claim back your funds from IEPF.

• Submit Form IEPF-5 online, and submit a physical copy of the same, along with other needed documents, to the company’s nodal officer whose shares/dividends are in concern so that they can proceed with verification.
• The company forwards the verification report within 15 days of receiving the claim.
• IEPF independently verifies the veracity of documents submitted. In case everything is in order, your shares/refund amount are electronically transferred back to your account.Here’s a non-exhaustive list of documents that you need to submit with form IEPF-5
• Online acknowledgment of the e-form with a unique SRN
• Original indemnity bond
• Original matured debenture/deposit/share certificate
• Advanced stamped receipt
• cancelled cheque leaf and Aadhar

Unclaimed insurance
If you’ve just gotten aware of your parent’s lost insurance policies, you can claim them back, too. All insurance companies update information regarding unclaimed insurance amounts, which are over Rs 1,000, on their website every 6 months. This amount can range from anything- death, maturity claims, survival benefits, or any other monies that have remained unclaimed for over 6 months since the due date of settlement

You need to furnish the policyholder’s PAN number and date of birth to search for such an unclaimed amount. Once verified, insurance companies transfer back the amount via digital mode.