Approach to Claim your Unclaimed Dividends and Unclaimed Shares

Posted by Infiny Solution on February 8th, 2024

With the rise of online trading and mobile technology, it’s easier than ever to set up an investment account online. If you have bought mutual funds or stocks in India, chances are that your investment has grown faster than you have had the time to claim your dividends and share certificates. You’re not alone – there are billions of rupees just sitting out there in investor accounts, just waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners! That’s where the process of claiming your unclaimed dividends and shares in India comes in, with government bodies like the Investor Education and Protection Fund of India taking care of this process on your behalf. Here’s everything you need to know about claiming your unclaimed dividends and shares in India.

Know about IEPF

IEPF is an autonomous body that was set up as a trust by the Indian government under the auspices of the Ministry of corporate affairs or SEBI. IEPF has been established for the protection of investors, with a mandate to safeguard their dividends, shares, and matured deposits. IEPF was created by the government of India for investor protection, as per SEBI regulations. The fund is administered by SEBI with a focus on investor education, awareness, and grievance redressal.

The IEPF is primarily funded by the securities market participants such as brokers, depositories, clearing corporations, and custodians. The fund is committed to protecting investors from getting cheated or taken advantage of when they are investing in shares, stocks, and other securities markets.
There are various types of funds you can transfer to IEPF

• Unclaimed Dividends

• Unclaimed Shares

• Unrealized matured time deposit proceeds of a company

• Unclaimed Investments concerning debentures

Guidelines to Recover Shares from IEPF Authority

• Any person whose unclaimed dividend/share or other amounts including application money for refund, mature deposits/ debentures, or interest thereon, the redemption of preference shares, sale proceeds of fractional shares, etc. These all are transferred by the company to IEPF authority. That person can apply to IEPF Authority to claim shares and refund of the transferred amount from IEPF.

• To receive your share of any company investments made in accordance with the International Economical Partners Financial Corp., you must fill out Form IEPF 5 and turn it into the NODAL OFFICER of the company.

• There can be only one claim per company per year. If a claim is rejected, the applicant must wait until the following year.

• IEPF 5 forms are filled only through OTP verification from the applicant’s phone number and email address. Both phone number and email address must be active and must be accessible till the claim is retrieved in the Demat account.

The website for the IEPF also provides for the checking of unclaimed investments for current or prospective investors.

The IEPF authority has made its best efforts to ensure the interests of the investor, and before any claim to the investor is released, the E-verification report, as well as a document describing the proceedings, must be sent to the IEPF authority.

Procedure to Claim unclaimed dividend/share

1. Step 1 Download the form IEPF-5 from the IEPF website for filing the refund claim. Follow the instructions given by IEPF with care before filling out the form. Documents needed for fill IEPF-5 form

• The applicant’s general details

• The organisation’s or company’s details from which the amount is due, including the CIN number

• Information about claimed shared or dividends

• Aadhaar number or passport/OCI/PIO card number

• Information of the bank account that is linked to Aadhaar

• Demat account number

2. Step 2. Once the form is filled out, save it on your computer, then submit the form by following the instructions given in the upload link on the website. Once successfully uploaded, you will be notified of the document’s current status with an SRN number. For future records, please enter the SRN of the form.

3. Step 3. Now you need to take a printout of the duly filled IEPF-5

4. Step 4. Submit the following in person at the company’s registered office: Original indemnity bond, acknowledgement receipt for e-form submission, and a self-certified copy of Form IEPF-5 with the other documents indicated on Form IEPF-5. The document you need to include

• Copy of form IEPF 5 with applicant’s signature

• Non-judicial stamp paper with the signature of the applicant

• Original stamped receipt with signature of the applicant

• Original share certificates or copy of transaction statement

• Copy of Demat account’s client master list

• Aadhaar card

• Proof of entitlement, i.e. interest warrant application number, etc.

• Passport, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), or Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card in case of NRIs and foreigners

5. Step 5. Claim forms completed in their entirety will be verified by the company concerned and based on the company’s verification report, a refund will be issued by the IEPF Authority to the claimants’ Aadhaar-linked bank account through electronic transfer.

6. Step 6. You can fill out the IEPF 5 form without any fees.

Conclusion

To summarize, it is possible for you to claim your unclaimed dividends and shares in India, but it will require some patience. The first step is to gather information on the company that issued the dividend or share. The second step is to fill out a form that can be downloaded from the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. You’ll need to provide details such as your name, address, contact number, bank account number, PAN card number, and Aadhaar card number.

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