The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has approved the setting-up of a Committee under the Chairmanship of Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to examine un-claimed amount remained in PPF, Post Office, Savings Schemes etc and recommend how this amount can be used to protect and further the financial interest of the senior citizens.

The Finance Minister, vide para 39 of his Budget Speech 2014-15, had announced that "a large amount of money is estimated to be lying as unclaimed amounts with PPF, Post Office, Savings Schemes etc. these are mostly out of  investments belonging to the senior citizens and on their demise, remain unclaimed for want of relevant payment instructions" and has proposed to set-up a Committee to examine and recommend how this amount can be used to protect and further financial interest of the senior citizens.

Accordingly, with the approval of the Union Finance Minister, a Committee has been set-up with the following composition:

1)      Deputy Governor, RBI  -  Chairman

2)      Secretary, Department of Posts - Member

3)      Joint Secretary (Law), M/o Law and Justice - Member

4)      Dy. Managing Director of S.B.I - Member

5)      Executive Director, Punjab National Bank  - Member

6)      Joint Secretary (Budget), DEA - Member

7)      Joint Director, - Member Secretary

National Savings Institute                 

The Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Committee would be:

• Based on defined scope, by Reserve Bank of India, estimation of amount lying unclaimed under various scheme`s (Small Savings and other Savings Schemes of banks) with Post Offices/ Public Sector Banks;
• Procedure for bringing such unclaimed deposits to a common pool to be suggested by the Committee. Changes, if any, required to be made in the legal framework may be suggested. Committee to also suggest if such a pool should be placed within Government account or outside it.
• Committee to recommend how this unclaimed amount can be used to protect and further financial interests of the senior citizens.

The Committee will submit its Report by 31^st December 2014.

Unclaimed savings pool to be examined and repurposed to protect senior citizens' financial interests through committee recommendations. A Committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, RBI will estimate unclaimed amounts under PPF, Post Office and other small savings and bank schemes; propose a procedure to aggregate such unclaimed deposits into a common pool and suggest necessary legal framework changes and whether the pool should be within or outside a Government account; and recommend how the aggregated unclaimed amount can be used to protect and further the financial interests of senior citizens.