Mumbai: In a move to help depositors and beneficiaries to get back their unclaimed deposits lying in various bank accounts, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced to develop a web portal to enable search across bank accounts for possible unclaimed deposits.
At present, the depositors or beneficiaries of unclaimed bank deposits of 10 years or more have to go through the websites of multiple banks to locate such deposits.
“Now, in order to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries to information on such unclaimed deposits, it has been decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the monetary policy committee’s (MPC) decisions.
“This will help depositors/beneficiaries in getting back unclaimed deposits,” he further said.
Minister of State for Finance Bagwig Kara this week told Lok Sabha that the total amount of unclaimed deposits transferred to RBI by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in respect of deposits which have not been operated for 10 years or more, was Rs 35,012 crore as on February, 2023.
In a move to enhance regulatory process, the RBI Governor also proposed to develop a secured web based centralised portal named as ‘PRAVAAH’ (Platform for Regulatory Application, Validation And AutHorisation) to enable entities to apply for license/authorisation or regulatory approvals from the central bank.
“In line with the Union Budget 2023-24 announcement, this will simplify and streamline the current system, wherein these applications are made through both offline and online modes,” Governor Das said.
The Governor informed that the portal will show time limits for deciding on the applications/approvals sought. This measure will bring greater efficiencies into regulatory processes and facilitate ease of doing business for the regulated entities of the RBI.
Seeking to further deepen the forex market in India, the RBI Governor said that now banks with IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) will be permitted to offer NDDCs (non-deliverable foreign exchange derivative contracts) involving Indian Rupee to resident users in the onshore market.
Das also announced to expand the scope of UPI by permitting operation of pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks through the UPI.
“This initiative will further encourage innovation,” he added.
In a respite for borrowers, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee (MPC) today decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50%.
