Q.975 UK resident’s money

transferred to unclaimed Account

in Indian Bank

Question: Dear sir / madam I have 2 accounts that by oversight have lapsed into "unclaimed" category. They hold around £6500 between them. I have written to HSBC bank where my accounts are held, in their Fort, Mumbai Branch. I sent all the documentation attested in the presence of an HSBC manager in UK and sent off by her in their internal mailing system after she confirmed by phone that it was everything they needed. The list included : ID Proof, Address proof, KYC Form for each joint account holder, OCI photocopies, British passport copies and a request letter to Reinstate the account to full functionality including internet banking from each joint account holder. They do not seem to be doing much in helping me, keep complaining about minor discrepancies in the forms, do not fully read or even answer e-mails or respond to voicemail messages. They do not even readily communicate with my HSBC UK manager who has helped me tremendously in the matter. I have complained to their senior mamagers and to their complaints department but to no avail. I had budgeted on the money in the account to finance my visit to India on 9 jan 2017 and started the process of account activation in October 2016 but will have to resort to other means of financing the trip. With ICICI again I have an NRE & NRO accounts which they activated pretty quickly but transferred the balance to DEAF charity account. Again, I sent all the necessary documentation as listed for HSBC above but nothing seems to be happening. I simply do not know what to do to escalate matters and get my account functional without all the bureacracy of crazy form filling each extending to many pages only to find some clerk picking tiny stupid faults which should not be held against me and used to hold back the activation process. My accounting needs are simple, I want to transfer money from UK , sourced from my pension income / svaings and spend it using my visa / debit cards while I am in India on holidays every 4 or 5 yearly interval. There are no regular payments to individuals, bill payments, loans or credit card payments. I simply do not know what to do to access my money which is a considerable sum for an ageing pensioner like me, so please help...any advise will be welcome or I would like to hear from anyone who has had similar experience and how they ended their nightmare. Yours faithfully S Parmar Answer: Perhaps your timing to deal with Indian banks is what may be causing a problem. Indian banks are in a state of confusion with most bank employees working endless hours to cope with the withdrawal of large denomination currency notes announced suddenly by the government of India on November 8, 2016. Since then there is a sever shortage of currency notes which has led to currency rationing and long lines at banks. I doubt if you will not lose your money, however the chances of getting your money before your planned trip date of January 9, 2017 is probably not possible, its already January 3, 2017 in India as I write this. During your visit to India you will be in a better position to contact the branches of both HDFC & ICICI bank to recover your money. I am providing you some information that you may find useful. Banks in India come under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and RBI has issued guidelines to banks in India on how to deal with money in unclaimed bank accounts and make it easier for account holders to get their money. Kindly refer to a article posted on NRI Information with the heading: Over Two thousand Crore Rs. in Indian Bank Accounts Unclaimed - Forgotten bank accounts - How to check list of unclaimed bank accounts . . . To read CLICK HERE After reading the article mentioned above, you will find a link to check the list of names of unclaimed bank accounts in Indian banks.

Unclaimed Bank Account Money

Transfered to DEAF account

For the benefit of all readers of this page, DEAF is the abbreviation for Depositor Awareness and Education Fund. Banks in India are required to transfer all unclaimed deposits in bank accounts for more than 10 years to RBI within three months from the expiry of the period of ten years. Even if a bank transfers funds from an unclaimed account to a DEAF account, the depositor would not lose his/her money if at some point of time they become aware of their unclaimed bank account. Once an unclaimed account depositor has provided proper Identification to the bank, the depositor would be able to operate their account again even if the deposited funds have been transfered. The bank would have to pay the deposited amount to the account holder and claim a refund from the DEAF fund.