Four steps to secure unclaimed mutual funds payments

Mutual fund payments of investors who do not opt for NEFT facility, and then fail to encash the payment instrument, remain unclaimed. If the address of the investor changes, the cheque may not get delivered. The investor may have closed the registered bank account and may not have updated the change with the mutual fund. As per Sebi guidelines, such funds have to be invested by the fund house in shortterm debt instruments. Net asset value (NAV) of these funds is also calculated. Fund houses can charge up to 0.5% per annum as investment management fee.

Investors can claim their money by following the given procedure:

Communication

The first step for the investor is to identify why the amount has remained unclaimed and communicate the reason to the mutual fund.

Information update

If address change is the issue then the investor must first get the address updated through the KYC Details Change form. To update bank account, the investor must fill up the Bank Account Registration form and provide a cancelled cheque of the new account.

Letter of indemnity

In order to receive a new payment instrument, the investor must provide a letter of indemnity in the format prescribed by the mutual fund, citing the folio number, scheme details and details of unclaimed payment.

Applicable NAV

If investors claim the money within three years, then the payment is based on the prevailing NAV of the portfolio. If investors claim money after three years, the payment is based on the NAV at the end of the three years.

Points to note

In case the investor has not opted for NEFT, the investor needs to seek fresh dividend warrant/redemption cheque.

Proceeds lying unclaimed in case of deceased investors may be claimed by nominees/legal heirs, as per the prescribed process.

(The content on this page is courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.)