Govt to revamp portal to speed up unclaimed shares and dividend payouts

New Delhi: The government has prepared a blueprint for the swift transfer of unclaimed shares and dividends to investors or their heirs, by upgrading the integrated portal for filing claims with artificial intelligence, data analytics and a raft of other new features, people aware of the details said.

The integrated portal 2.0 has been conceptualised by the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the corporate affairs ministry. "The blueprint is ready. Work on it will start soon," one of the people told ET.

The aim is to facilitate settlement in just about 15 days through the upgraded portal, they added.

Delinking from MCA21
Companies transfer shares, dividends and matured debentures that are not claimed for seven years to the IEPFA. Investors (or legal heirs if the investors are dead) can apply to the authority through the integrated portal for the transfer of these financial assets to them.

The integrated portal 2.0 will be a major step-up from the one launched on October 6, which itself marked a significant improvement from the earlier system that took months, sometimes years, for claim processing and settlement, said the people cited earlier. The IEPFA is also planning to launch an app through which investors can apply and check the status of their claims, the people said.

AI and data analytics would be deployed for expediting the scrutiny of investor claims and other processes, and identifying dormant accounts.

The portal will move out of the MCA21 platform, which is used by companies for mandatory filings and thus acts as a repository of corporate data. Instead, it will source necessary data available with the MCA21 platform through an application programming interface. This way, it will remain insulated from any hiccups facing the MCA21.

The segregation is important, as the latest version of the MCA21, called V3, has drawn frequent criticism over technical glitches since its rollout in 2023.

In fact, on Friday, the corporate affairs ministry had to extend the deadline for companies to file their financial statements and annual returns for 2024-25 to December 31 without additional fees. The extension followed complaints by stakeholders of technical problems in filing revised forms on the V3 portal.

Issues around the MCA21 have also contributed to delays in the transfer of old shares by the IEPFA.

The upgraded portal planned by the IEPFA will also have facilities for the know-your-customer update online and for Aadhaar-based face authentication of claimants.

The IEPFA held unclaimed shares worth Rs 8,237 crore in 2023-24, compared with Rs 2,423 crore in 2018-19, thanks to a jump in the transfers of such shares by companies and delays in settlements despite some improvement in recent years.