Jammu, Nov 15: Jammu and Kashmir has recorded over 17.20 lakh unclaimed bank accounts with a total outstanding amount of Rs 465.79 crore, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. The central bank has urged banks to step up efforts to trace rightful claimants and return the money within a fixed timeframe.
RBI Regional Director Chandra Shekhar Azad said Jammu district alone has 2,94,676 unclaimed accounts, amounting to Rs 107.27 crore.
Across the Union Territory, the number stands at 17,20,878 unclaimed accounts with a total outstanding of Rs 465.79 crore.
Azad encouraged all banks to proactively contact depositors or legal heirs to ensure timely settlement of these amounts.
To push this process, the RBI has launched a special incentive initiative called the Scheme for Facilitating Accelerated Assets Pay-out – Inoperative Accounts and Unclaimed Deposits. Under this scheme, banks will receive an incentive of up to 7.5 percent of the account balance or Rs 25,000, whichever is lower, for reactivating inoperative accounts and settling unclaimed deposits from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2026.
Meanwhile, the J-K Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committee (UTLBC) organised large settlement-cum-awareness camps in Jammu and Srinagar to help citizens with on-the-spot identification, verification, and disbursement of unclaimed financial assets lying with banks, insurance firms, pension funds, mutual funds, and dividend accounts.
