The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme (DEAF Scheme) in 2014 to promote depositor interest and for any other relevant objectives considered required by the RBI.

This fund was formed in response to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India’s announcement of the Monetary Policy Statement 2013-14 on May 3, 2013. As a result, the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 was amended, and Section 26A was added to the Act, authorizing the RBI to establish this fund.

Amount To Be Moved From Non-Operative Accounts To The Fund

The RBI has a separate account for the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF). The Reserve Bank of India has instructed that the following categories of funds be transferred to this fund.

  • The credit amount of any deposit account held with a bank that has not been used in 10 years or longer.
  • Any money that has been unclaimed for 10 years or longer. 

If the depositor requests it, there is a provision for reimbursement of the sum. 

  • The DEAF system allows depositors to recoup their funds even after they have been transferred to DEAF.
  • Depositors can verify the information of inactive accounts/unclaimed funds transferred to DEAF on the relevant banks’ websites.
  • The claimant must go to a bank branch and fill out the Unclaimed Deposits Claim Form provided by the bank.
  • KYC data, which acts as evidence of the account and the amount claimed, must be provided.
  • Following claim verification, banks can transfer the claim to the consumer and subsequently submit for reimbursement from the RBI up to the amount claimed by the customer.
  • Any interest payable from the fund on a claim will accrue from the day the cash was transferred to the fund until the date of payment to the customer and is restricted to those accounts for which the bank paid interest. The appropriate interest rate is set by the RBI.
  • If just a portion of the sum is claimed, the account is resurrected and made operational. The whole amount, including any interest, is sent back to the now-active account. The bank is entitled to a refund of the entire amount, plus interest.
  • Under the instance of a bank in liquidation, the depositor has the option of submitting a claim to the liquidator. If the deposits are insured by DICGC Insurance, DEAF will pay the liquidation the amount that DICGC may have demanded. Even for amounts not covered by the DICGC, the fund reimburses the liquidator for any amount paid to the depositor.
  • If a bank settles a claim during the month, the refund request must be submitted by the last day of the following month.

Rbi Deaf Scheme 2014

The DEAF plan was announced in the Official Gazette on May 24, 2014.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed in a statement to bank heads that banks should compute the cumulative balances in all such accounts with unclaimed deposits, together with interest collected till May 23, 2014, and send them to the newly formed fund.

The DEAF was initially introduced in the RBI’s annual monetary policy in May 2013, with the goal of using unclaimed deposits with banks to educate and raise awareness among depositors. An unclaimed deposit is one in which an account has not been maintained for ten years or any deposit or sum that has been unclaimed for more than ten years. The RBI instructed banks to only transfer money in electronic form, and it also outlined a thorough method for doing so.

Conclusion

We have learned about the DEAF scheme, RBI deaf scheme 2014, deaf scheme RBI, and all other concepts related to DEAF Scheme.

DEAF stands for Depositor Education and Awareness Fund. The RBI launched it as a plan or fund in 2014. It was established to manage unclaimed funds from depositors.