Nearly Rs 492 crore lying in J&K banks with no one to claim it; Govt’s nationwide campaign yield no results

A whopping amount of nearly ₹492 crore remains unclaimed in various banks across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir despite a special nationwide campaign launched by the central government to help people recover dormant deposits and forgotten accounts.

According to official figures, the highest amount of unclaimed deposits is lying with J&K Bank Limited, where nearly ₹331 crore remains unclaimed. This is followed by the State Bank of India with around ₹77 crore and the Punjab National Bank with nearly ₹44 crore in unclaimed deposits.

Officials said the money is lying in savings accounts, fixed deposits, pensions, dividends, and other financial instruments that have remained inactive or unclaimed for years.

To facilitate the return of such deposits, the Central Government had launched a nationwide three-month campaign titled “Your Capital, Your Rights” from October 1 to December 31, 2025. The initiative involved the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SEBI, insurance regulators, and several financial institutions.

Under the campaign, banks were directed to actively trace account holders and their families through phone calls, messages, awareness drives, and special camps so that dormant deposits could be returned to their rightful owners.

Official data reveals that a total of ₹507.17 crore lying in nearly 17.89 lakh dormant accounts was identified across Jammu and Kashmir during the campaign period. However, the response from the public remained poor, and banks could refund only ₹15.03 crore, leaving approximately ₹492 crore still unclaimed.

People are not coming forward to claim unclaimed money

Banking officials said many people either remain unaware of old accounts or fail to complete the formalities required for claiming the deposits. In several cases, the families of deceased account holders are unaware of the existence of such accounts, particularly where no nominee was registered.

State Lead Bank Manager Khurshid Muzaffar said that any bank account, fixed deposit, pension, dividend, or similar financial deposit that remains inactive and unclaimed for 10 consecutive years is categorised as an unclaimed deposit.

He said factors such as forgetfulness, migration for jobs, changes in contact details, lack of financial awareness, and non-availability of nominees are among the major reasons behind the growing volume of unclaimed deposits.

Muzaffar appealed to people to verify whether they or their family members have any dormant bank accounts or unclaimed deposits and approach the concerned banks to complete the claim process.

People can also search for such deposits through the RBI’s UDGAM portal, where users can check details of unclaimed accounts by registering with their mobile number and entering basic bank-related information. Once the details are traced, the claimant can approach the respective bank with the required documents to recover the funds.