Have unclaimed insurance and EPF amounts? Check where to make claims online under ‘Your Money — Your Right’ campaign
AI Summary
The Indian government has confirmed that it will not utilize unclaimed funds from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) or inoperative Employees Provident Fund (EPF) accounts for purposes outside the existing framework. Investors are encouraged to check for unclaimed amounts and make claims through the 'Your Money — Your Right' campaign, which aims to reconnect citizens with their forgotten financial assets. Additionally, a pilot project has been initiated for the automatic settlement of small inoperative EPF accounts to streamline the claims process.
The central government said that it has no proposal to use unclaimed funds with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and inoperative Employees Provident Fund (EPF) accounts for purposes other than the existing mechanism, ANI reported.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance clarified that only insurance amounts unclaimed for over 10 years is transferred to the Senior Citizen Welfare Fund (SCWF). This is in accordance with an order by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) dated 19 June 2024, it added.
Notably, investors with unclaimed insurance amounts or inoperative EPF accounts can check their dues and make claims online facilitated by the Centre's ‘Your Money — Your Right’ campaign. Today, we explain how…
For LIC policyholders, they can search for unclaimed amounts on the insurer's official website.
The company is also tracing policyholders and nominees by contacting customers through letters, SMS, local agents, Bima Sakhis and credit bureau agencies, it added.
Further, the Ministry's ongoing ‘Your Money — Your Right’ campaign is running awareness advertisements across the country in multiple languages.
For EPFO members, inoperative accounts are categorised based on KYC status. The release said that the Centre has initiated a pilot project for automatic settlement of Aadhaar-verified inoperative accounts with balances of ₹1,000 or less.
This will allow direct credit to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of EPF subscribers without requiring fresh claims or documentation. Further, and the model is proposed to be expanded to higher balance slabs after due diligence.
The government said outreach and awareness initiatives are also being undertaken through social media and Nidhi Aapke Nikat (NAN) 2.0 camps to help members identify and claim amounts lying in inoperative EPF accounts.
Your Money, Your Right is a nationwide effort to reconnect citizens with these forgotten financial assets and ensure that money that belongs to individuals and families ultimately finds its way back to them. Such assets include:
The initiative is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the RBI, IRDAI, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
Jocelyn Fernandes is a journalist and editor with nearly 13 years of experience covering the business, corporate, economy and markets beats in news.<br> As chief content producer for around three years at Livemint (Hindustan Times), Jocelyn publishes breaking stories, explainers, features and live blogs on a range of business and economy topics, including the Budget, corporate developments, stock markets, income tax, money and personal finance, cryptocurrency, government policy, impact of US tariffs, international developments and more.<br> Jocelyn's writing philosophy is focused on delivering news in an accurate and accessible format for readers. She thus focuses her news coverage on explainers and FAQs in order to breakdown business, corporate, economic, and policy topics that are of importance to everyday readers.<br> She holds a Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM) and Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Journalism and Communication and has previously written for online business and markets news site Moneycontrol (Network18), Business-to-business (B2B) trade publications — the industry magazines Power Today and Solar Today (ASAPP Media), and the national news agency United News of India (UNI).<br> Outside of work, Jocelyn keeps up-to-date with local and international news, enjoys reading fiction books, novels and short stories, and enjoys movies, travelling and art. <br> She can be found on X and LinkedIn, and reached by email: <a href="jocelyn.fernandes@htdigital.in">jocelyn.fernandes@htdigital.in</a> <br> X/ Twitter handle: <a href="https://x.com/scribeJocelyn">@scribeJocelyn<...
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