Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently revealed that banks and regulators are holding a large pool of unclaimed financial assets, amounting to Rs 1.84 lakh crore. To reconnect these sums with their rightful owners, she has launched a three month campaign called Apki Poonji, Apka Adhikar, which translates to Your Money, Your Right.
Speaking at the campaign launch in Gandhinagar, the minister stressed the need to make sure that deposits, insurance policies, provident fund balances and shares that have gone unclaimed are returned to the people entitled to them. She asked officials to concentrate on three practical pillars: raising public awareness about these assets, ensuring easy access to information and claim channels, and taking concrete action to reunite funds with claimants.
Sitharaman pointed out that these amounts are not lost but are securely held by banks, the Reserve Bank of India or the Investor Education and Protection Fund. The government is acting in a custodial role, she said, and individuals who can prove ownership can recover their assets by submitting the required documentation.
To make locating unclaimed bank deposits simpler, the Reserve Bank has set up the Unclaimed Deposits Gateway to Access Information, known as UDGAM. The minister encouraged both government and banking staff to actively spread the word about the campaign and guide people on how to search for and claim their funds through UDGAM and other official channels.
The success of the initiative depends on cooperation between public authorities and financial institutions. As an example of that cooperation, Gujarat Gramin Bank has pledged to visit every village in the state to help find the rightful owners of unclaimed deposits. With coordinated effort, the campaign aims to close the gap between dormant accounts and the people who have a legal right to those assets.
In short, Apki Poonji, Apka Adhikar is a focused, time bound effort to reunite unclaimed financial assets with legitimate claimants by informing the public, improving access to centralized information and taking proactive steps to process claims.