Unclaimed Bank Deposits 2026: How to Search RBI's UDGAM Portal and Get Your Money Back With Interest

By Nitish Bharadwaj · Published Sep 28, 2026 · 6 min

A savings or current account untouched for ten years, or a fixed deposit not claimed within ten years of maturity, becomes an unclaimed deposit. The bank moves the balance to RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness Fund, but the money still belongs to you or your heirs. RBI's UDGAM portal lets you search 30 banks at once using your name and an ID such as PAN. The claim itself is filed at the bank. Interest-bearing deposits earn 3% simple interest a year from the date of transfer until you are paid.

Somewhere in India's banking system there may be a savings account your grandfather opened, an FD your mother forgot after moving cities, or a salary account from your first job. If nobody has touched it for ten years, it is now an unclaimed deposit. The good news is that the money has not been confiscated. It is sitting with RBI, earning a small amount of interest, waiting for someone to ask for it.

When a Deposit Becomes Unclaimed

RBI classifies two kinds of balances as unclaimed. The first is a savings or current account with no customer-initiated transaction for ten years. The second is a fixed or recurring deposit that nobody has claimed within ten years of its maturity date. Banks then transfer the balance to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund, which RBI runs under Section 26A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

There is an earlier stage too. An account becomes inoperative after just two years without activity. Your money stays with the bank then, and our guide to reactivating a dormant bank account covers that simpler fix. This article is about the ten-year stage, when the balance has left the bank's books.

The amounts are large. RBI's annual report put unclaimed deposits in the DEA Fund at ₹78,213 crore at the end of March 2024, up 26% in a year. Most of it sits in public sector banks, and a large share belongs to people who have died without their families knowing the accounts existed.

How to Search on the UDGAM Portal

Before 2023, finding an unclaimed deposit meant checking each bank's website one by one. RBI launched UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access inforMation) in August 2023 with seven banks and expanded it to 30 banks within weeks. Those banks hold about 90% of the value in the DEA Fund.

1. Go to udgam.rbi.org.in and register with your mobile number, name and a password. You will verify the number by OTP.
2. Log in and enter the account holder's name exactly as it would appear in bank records. Try spelling variants, initials and the maiden name for married women.
3. Choose the banks to search, or select all of them.
4. Add at least one identifier: PAN, voter ID, driving licence, passport number or date of birth. For a deceased relative, the date of birth is often the only one you will have.
5. Review the results. Each match shows the bank and a reference number for the deposit, but not the balance or account number.

Filing the Claim at the Bank

Once you have a match, visit the bank with the claim form, which most banks publish on their websites. Many banks now accept claims at any branch, but call first, because some still route them through the branch where the account was opened. The documents depend on who is claiming.

The bank verifies the claim, pays you, and then recovers the amount from the DEA Fund. You do not deal with RBI directly. If the bank delays without reason, escalate to its grievance officer and, after 30 days, to the RBI Ombudsman through cms.rbi.org.in. Our guide on claiming an FD after the holder's death explains nominee and legal-heir rules in more detail.

How Much Interest You Get Back

Interest has two parts. While the money is still with the bank, a savings account earns its normal savings rate. A matured FD that is not renewed usually earns the savings rate or the original FD rate, whichever is lower. Once the money moves to the DEA Fund, RBI fixes the rate for interest-bearing deposits. It has been 3% simple interest a year since May 11, 2021, after 4% until June 2018 and 3.5% in between.

Current accounts do not earn interest, so only the balance comes back. Interest paid on a claim is taxable as income from other sources in the year you receive it.

Other Unclaimed Money Worth Checking

Bank deposits are only one piece. The government's 'Your Money, Your Right' campaign, launched in October 2025, pushed banks, insurers, fund houses and the IEPF Authority to return unclaimed assets. If you are tracing a relative's finances, also check these:

• Shares and dividends unclaimed for seven years, which move to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) and can be claimed through Form IEPF-5
• Life insurance maturity or death claims, listed on each insurer's website under unclaimed amounts
• Mutual fund units and unpaid redemptions, searchable through SEBI's MITRA tool on the MF Central and registrar websites
• Old EPF accounts, which you can find through the EPFO member portal using your UAN

How to Stop Your Own Money Going Unclaimed

• Add a nominee to every account and FD. Banks now allow up to four nominees on deposits.
• Close accounts you no longer use instead of leaving small balances behind.
• Choose auto-renewal on FDs you might forget, so they never sit as matured, unclaimed deposits.
• Keep a simple list of your accounts, FDs and policies, and tell one family member where it is.
• Do one small transaction a year in every account you want to keep open.

Setting FDs to renew automatically is the easiest safeguard. Our explainer on what happens when an FD matures shows how to choose the right renewal instruction.