Shivakumar Shamarao, 42, a Bengaluru-based doctor, received a call from HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd a couple of weeks back informing him that they have an unclaimed redemption of his investment with the fund house from 2007, and as he had not opted for Real Time Gross Settlement facility, they wanted to send a cheque instead, but did not have his updated address. “I had made the investment when I used to live in Chennai through my ICICI Bank Ltd account. When I shifted to Bengaluru in 2008, I transferred my bank accounts but somehow missed updating the details with the fund house,” he said, adding that he is now getting this resolved through his financial planning firm.
Other mutual fund (MF) investors, too, may be getting similar intimations because according to a 25 February notification from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), it is now mandatory for fund houses to disclose details related to unclaimed dividends and redemptions of all MF schemes on their websites from 1 April. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) also has to provide on its website the consolidated list of investors in whose folios there are unclaimed amounts. It will contain the investor’s name, address, and name of MF(s) with whom the unclaimed amount lies. “Mutual funds shall be required to provide on their website, the list of names and addresses of investors in whose folios there are unclaimed amounts,” the Sebi circular stated. Fund houses also are required to provide information on the process to claim this unclaimed amount and necessary forms or documents.
