Unclaimed dividend amounts held by India’s mutual funds surged by 15.7% to ₹2,689 crore in the financial year 2025-26, as regulator SEBI intensifies efforts to streamline the recovery process and reduce unclaimed assets.
Unclaimed dividend money held by India’s mutual funds rose 15.7% to ₹2,689 crore in financial year 2025-26, even as unclaimed redemption proceeds edged down, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s annual report. The regulator said the increase lifted total unclaimed mutual fund amounts to ₹3,811 crore as of March 31, 2026, up from ₹3,452 crore a year earlier.
The report showed that unclaimed dividends rose by ₹365 crore from ₹2,324 crore at the end of 2024-25, while unclaimed redemption proceeds slipped to ₹1,122 crore from ₹1,128 crore. That marks a change from the previous year, when mutual funds saw a sharper overall build-up in unclaimed money, driven by increases in both dividend and redemption balances.
SEBI has been widening efforts to reduce the stock of financial assets that go unclaimed and to make it easier for investors and nominees to trace holdings. According to the regulator, it has enabled integration with DigiLocker so investors can view demat and mutual fund information in one place, and introduced a centralised process that lets nominees report an investor’s death once to a KYC Registration Agency, with the update then flowing to other intermediaries.
The regulator has also been working with the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority on “Niveshak Shivir” events to help investors reclaim unclaimed shares and dividends. The initiative offers support with filing Form IEPF-5, dematerialising securities and updating KYC and nomination details. SEBI said six such camps were held during 2025-26 in Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Jaipur, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar, alongside dedicated seva kendras in six states.
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