The latest data from the RBI indicates that the amount in ‘Unclaimed Deposits’ by the end of 2020 increased to Rs. 24,356 crores. This is three times the amount by the end of 2014 and more than five times the amount by the end of 2011. As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, a bank account is considered inoperative/dormant if there are no transactions for over two years. Further, the accounts that are not operative for more than 10 years are classified as unclaimed deposits. There are multiple reasons for accounts becoming inoperative, with the major ones being – the death of the account holder, shifting to a new place, etc. The RBI has issued guidelines, on how the banks need to deal with inoperative accounts. As per an update provided in Lok Sabha in August 2021, there are more than 8.13 crore accounts with unclaimed deposits as of 31 December 2020, with the total amount in these accounts at Rs. 24,356 crores. In this story, we analyse the trends in unclaimed deposits based on the information released by the RBI regularly & data provided in the parliament. Amount in ‘Unclaimed Deposits’ increased by more than five times during 2011 & 2020 In 2011, the amount in unclaimed deposits in all the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India was Rs. 4.38 thousand crores, which increased by more than five-time to Rs. 24.35 thousand crores by the end of 2020. This growth in amount is more prominent over the last three years. In 2017, the amount in unclaimed deposits was Rs. 11.32 thousand crores, which increased by nearly 26.6% in 2018 to Rs.14.3 thousand crores. In the next year i.e., in 2019, the growth in the amount was 28.4% and in 2020, it increased by 32.5% to Rs. 24.35 thousand crores. The number of accounts with unclaimed deposits has increased four-fold during 2011-2020. In 2011, the number of such accounts was 1.97 crores. By 31 December 2020, the number of accounts with unclaimed deposits was 8.13 crores across all the SCBs in the country. The growth of such accounts was more prominent over the recent three-year period of 2018 & 2020. Most of the increase in ‘Unclaimed deposits’ is in Public Sector Banks Among the different categories of Banks, the data for which is provided in the RBI’s DBIE database, the three major categories of banks with a substantial amount in unclaimed deposits are – Public Sector Banks, Private sector Banks & Foreign banks. Public Sector Banks (PSBs): A major portion of the unclaimed deposits belong to Public Sector banks. In 2019, the total amount in unclaimed deposits with Public Sector banks amounted to Rs. 14.97 thousand crores. In 2005, it was around Rs. 835 Crores. While there has been a year-on-year increase in the number of unclaimed deposits, major growth was seen in recent years. In 2015, the amount in unclaimed deposits of PSBs was Rs. 5.78 thousand crores, which increased sharply to Rs. 9.19 thousand crores in 2016. Another sharp increase was witnessed in 2019 when the amount in unclaimed deposits increased from Rs. 11.9 crores by the end of 2018 to Rs.1 4.97 crores by end of 2019. The number of accounts with unclaimed deposits in PSBs by the end of 2019 was 5.35 crores. Private Sector Banks: The amount in unclaimed deposits in Private Sector banks increased from Rs. 52.73 crores in 2005 to Rs. 2.47 thousand crores at end of 2019. As seen in the case of public sector banks, the growth of amount in unclaimed deposits was more prominent in recent years. By the end of 2017, the amount in unclaimed deposits increased to Rs.1.5 thousand crores from Rs. 1.17 thousand crores by the end of 2016. This further increased to Rs. 1.97 thousand and Rs. 2.47 thousand crores by the end of 2018 & 2019 respectively. There has been a consistent year-on-year increase in the amount in unclaimed deposits with private banks except for 2014 when the amount in unclaimed deposits fell from Rs. 624 crores to Rs. 531 crores, which was contributed by the fall of unclaimed deposits in IDBI bank. The number of accounts with unclaimed deposits in private sector banks was 70.9 lakhs by the end of 2019. Foreign Banks: A total amount of Rs. 455 crores in unclaimed accounts were in the accounts with foreign banks by the end of 2019. There is a steady growth in the number of unclaimed deposits with foreign banks. In 2013, there has been a major increase from Rs. 73 crores to Rs. 491 crores, which fell back to Rs. 148 crores by the end of 2014. This is mainly due to the increase and subsequent fall in the number of unclaimed deposits with Citi Bank during these years. Nationalized banks account for around 67% of the total unclaimed deposits as of 2020.