Money Your Family Forgot It Had

Somewhere in most families there is an account nobody remembers opening.

A fixed deposit in a grandfather's name. A policy that lapsed after a move. Shares from an old employer. Dividends going to a bank account that closed years ago. Nobody hid this money. It simply stopped being anyone's job to remember, and then the person who knew was gone.

The awkward part is that tracing it usually meant knowing where to look first — one place for bank deposits, another for insurance, another for shares, another for mutual funds. Most people gave up somewhere around the second search.

The Finance Ministry has now put those searches in one place. A single portal, unclaimedassetsportal.in, covering unclaimed deposits, insurance claims, shares, dividends and mutual funds together.

This week, try one name. Not yours — an elder's, or someone in the family who has passed on. Twenty minutes, and either you find nothing and stop wondering, or you find something that was always yours.

General information only, based on publicly available reports as on the date of publication. Rules and effective dates may change. Nothing here is advice or a recommendation, and it does not consider any individual's circumstances. Please verify against the original regulation or speak to a qualified professional before acting.