The Reserve Bank of India has issued revised guidelines for the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund Scheme, 2014, set to take effect from October 1, 2025.
The updated norms apply to all commercial and cooperative banks and aim to simplify processes for transferring unclaimed deposits, those idle for over 10 years, and claiming refunds.
Banks must now register under the DEA Fund module on RBI’s e-Kuber system and transfer such amounts in the last five working days of each month. Refunds can be claimed in the first ten days of the following month, with only one transfer and one refund permitted monthly.
Detailed reporting, certified by auditors, is mandated across monthly, half-yearly, and annual formats. These rules supersede all previous DEA Fund instructions issued by the RBI since 2014.