Introduction
In September 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a clear and time-bound directive to scheduled commercial banks across the country: return over ₹67,000 crore in unclaimed deposits within three months. These funds, which have been lying dormant in banks for over a decade, reflect savings and investments that depositors or their heirs have not claimed.
According to official data presented in Parliament, ₹67,270 crore in unclaimed deposits had accumulated by June 2025, with nearly 87 per cent of these funds held by public sector banks. The State Bank of India alone accounts for close to ₹19,330 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank, each with over ₹6,000 crore. Among private banks, ICICI Bank leads with over ₹2,000 crore in unclaimed deposits.
The central bank has set a strict three-month window—from October to December 2025—for institutions to intensify their efforts to trace account holders or their heirs.
What Are Unclaimed Deposits?
Unclaimed deposits are amounts parked in bank accounts or term deposits that remain untouched for ten years or more. If there are no customer-initiated transactions, such as withdrawals, deposits, or instructions, over this period, the account is treated as inoperative.
By regulation, once these deposits cross the dormancy threshold, they are transferred by banks to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund maintained by the RBI. The intent behind this framework is to protect idle money from misuse and to ensure that rightful owners or their heirs can claim it at any point through a structured process.
Despite these measures, the scale of the problem is enormous. The funds in question represent both financial assets forgotten by individuals and systemic gaps in outreach. Many heirs are unaware of accounts held by deceased relatives, and in other cases, documentation gaps make it difficult for claimants to establish ownership.
The Scale Of Unclaimed Deposits
The RBI’s disclosure puts the size of unclaimed deposits at ₹67,270 crore as of June 2025. Public sector banks dominate this pool, reflecting their large customer base and legacy operations. Here are a few of the banks with their unclaimed deposits:
Bank | Unclaimed Deposits (₹ crore) |
State Bank of India (SBI) | 19,329.29 |
Punjab National Bank (PNB) | 6,910.67 |
Canara Bank | 6,278.14 |
Bank of Baroda | 5,277.36 |
Union Bank of India | 5,104.50 |
ICICI Bank | 2,063.45 |
Other Private Banks (combined) | 8,673.72 |
Total (All Banks) | 67,270 |
RBI’s Instructions To Banks
The Reserve Bank of India has issued time-bound instructions to banks, directing them to intensify efforts between October and December 2025 to return unclaimed deposits.
Key Directives From The RBI
Special Outreach Drive (Oct–Dec 2025):
Banks have been asked to run a targeted campaign over three months to trace account holders or their heirs. The focus will be on proactive engagement rather than passive compliance.Role Of State Level Bank Committees (SLBCs):
SLBCs are required to review progress at a granular level, breaking down data by region and age of deposit, and ensuring that lagging banks step up their efforts.Public Awareness Measures:
Banks must reach out to customers through various media, including print, electronic, and digital channels, with a special focus on rural and semi-urban areas where awareness levels are often lower.Grievance Redressal:
Institutions must strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms to ensure that claimants face fewer procedural hurdles when retrieving funds.UDGAM Portal:
A central plank of this drive is the UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access Information) portal maintained by the RBI. This digital platform allows individuals to search for unclaimed deposits across multiple banks using simple identifiers such as their name, PAN, or address.
As of July 2025, nearly 8.6 lakh users had registered, and the portal now covers banks that account for around 90% of unclaimed deposit value.
Challenges In Returning Dormant Deposits
While the RBI’s directive is clear and time-bound, executing it on the ground poses significant challenges. The sheer magnitude of ₹67,270 crore in dormant funds means banks must overcome structural, operational, and human barriers to reunite depositors with their money.
Tracing The Rightful Owners
One of the greatest hurdles lies in locating the original depositors or their heirs. Over time, customers may have moved houses, migrated abroad, or passed away, leaving no clear trail for banks to follow. Inheritance complexities add another layer of difficulty, especially in the absence of updated nominee information.
Documentation And Proof
Even when claimants are identified, retrieving deposits often hinges on producing valid documents such as identity proofs, succession certificates, or death certificates of deceased account holders. In many cases, these documents are either missing or difficult to obtain, delaying the process.
Awareness And Financial Literacy Gaps
A large proportion of dormant deposits belong to individuals in rural and semi-urban regions. Limited awareness of banking rules, lack of digital access, and low financial literacy mean that many potential claimants are unaware of their rights or the steps required to reclaim funds.
Operational Inefficiencies
Banks themselves face operational bottlenecks. Branch-level staff may not always have updated contact information, and in some cases, the processes for claim settlement remain manual, cumbersome, and time-consuming.
Risk Of Fraudulent Claims
Efforts to return unclaimed deposits must also be safeguarded against fraudulent attempts, where impostors may try to exploit gaps in verification mechanisms. This necessitates robust verification tools that can balance customer convenience with security.
AuthBridge’s Solutions For Banks To Meet RBI’s Directive
When banks are pressed to act fast and at scale, mere promises don’t suffice. What matters is whether a solution can deliver across jurisdictions, risk tiers, connectivity constraints, and fraud vectors. AuthBridge’s address and contact point verification stack is built to meet exactly those demands. Below is a close look at the services.
Digital Address Verification (DAV / Footprints)
AuthBridge’s Digital Address Verification (DAV), also known as Footprints, allows banks to confirm an address entirely via digital workflows, eliminating or reducing reliance on physical visits.
How It Works:
- Prepopulated Link via Registered Mobile
The bank provides an individual’s name and mobile number to AuthBridge. That individual receives a link (or form) on their mobile with some fields already prefilled. - Upload Selfie, Identity Document, Premise Photograph
The user is prompted to upload three things: - GPS Capture & Geotagging
On submission, the app captures the GPS coordinates of the claimant. Multiple data points (triangulation) are used to infer the location and map it to a postal/local address. - Verification & Matching
Using image recognition, liveness checks, and geospatial logic, the system verifies whether the submitted address, documents, and the physical photo are consistent. Where needed, it flags discrepancies for human review. - Exception / Fallback Handling
If the automated digital route fails (poor GPS signal, weak photographs, mismatch), an exception path is triggered, where either a field agent may step in or further validations are requested.
Key Strengths & Metrics
- Speed & Turnaround Time (TAT)
DAV reduces what would traditionally take days or weeks of field work down to minutes (in ideal conditions). - High Success Rates
In a sample analysis of ~10,000 journeys, 87% completed the digital flow without intervention.
In 92% of cases, the system achieved accurate biometric (face) identification.
On average, the distance variance (difference between captured coordinates and “true” location) was ~ 182 metres. - Scalability & Integration
The solution is fully API-ready and can be embedded into existing onboarding or KYC flows. - Multilingual / Inclusive UI
The platform supports multiple Indian languages, making it accessible across diverse geographies. - Data Security & Compliance
AuthBridge adheres to ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standards and claims strong protection over personally identifiable information.
GroundCheck.ai — AI-Powered Contact Point Verification (CPV)
When digital alone is insufficient or risk is higher, GroundCheck.ai (AuthBridge’s next-gen CPV platform) extends verification into real-world terrain—merging digital signals with on-ground checks. It is critical that when addresses are remote, the signal is weak, or risk demands assurance.
Core Features & Capabilities
- Risk-Aligned, Configurable Workflows
Verification flows adapt based on risk tiers—Basic, Moderate, High. The system adjusts between fully digital, hybrid, or full physical verification paths. - Geolocation + Face Match + Shopfront / Premise Identification
At higher risk levels, the platform uses triangulation, liveness, and even storefront recognition to verify that a business or residence truly exists at the claimed address. - Agentic AI & Photo Intelligence
The system auto-extracts business name, line of business (LOB), signage, and category from images submitted during on-ground verification. - Voice-Enabled Field App & Real-Time Reporting
Field agents can use speech-to-text input to complete checks faster, with real-time geo-tagged reporting and an auditable QC (Quality Check) layer. - Smart Task Assignment & QC
The platform routes verification tasks intelligently (based on distance, connectivity, workload) and monitors anomalies automatically. - Pan-India Reach (20,000+ PIN Codes)
GroundCheck.ai claims coverage across over 20,000 pincodes in India, spanning urban, semi-urban, and remote regions. - Integration Flexibility
Banks can integrate via API / SDK. Deployment is modular: use the bank’s own agents, a hybrid field force, or AuthBridge’s managed service.
Use Cases & Relevance to Unclaimed Deposits
- For cases where DAV fails (bad GPS, unclear photos, rural locales), GroundCheck.ai can step in to physically verify the location.
- For merchant/branch or vendor addresses in banking networks (if part of claims), it can validate the legitimacy and location.
- For higher-value unclaimed deposits where fraud risk is higher, this hybrid approach assures that the claimant is genuine.
Why AuthBridge’s Stack Is A Win-Win Solution For Banks Today
Built for Scale & Compliance
With millions of verifications already in its portfolio, AuthBridge has the infrastructure and domain experience to deliver in mission-critical environments.
Modular & Context-Aware Deployment
Banks aren’t forced into rigid systems. They can choose which cases go digital, which go hybrid, and which require full field checks, based on risk flags and geography.
High Auditability & Traceability
Every verification step is logged: GPS metadata, images, agent reports, QC steps, and decision trails.
Lower Processing Overheads
Because many verifications happen without dispatching agents, overall cost and operational burden fall drastically—especially relevant when banks must handle thousands of claims.
Confidence & Trust Messaging
For banks, showing depositors a credible, tech-first outreach raises their brand value.
Fallback Safety Net
Even in the trickiest geographies, the hybrid path ensures no claim is abandoned merely because automation faltered.
Conclusion
The RBI’s call to return ₹67,270 crore in unclaimed deposits within three months is both a challenge and an opportunity for banks. Success will depend on how effectively institutions can trace rightful claimants while safeguarding against fraud and delay. Digital tools such as AuthBridge’s Digital Address Verification (DAV) and GroundCheck.ai provide a practical answer—enabling banks to verify addresses in minutes, escalate seamlessly to on-ground checks when required, and build a transparent audit trail at every step. By adopting these solutions, banks not only stand to meet the RBI’s directive on time but also send a clear message of trust, accountability, and customer commitment.
