Guidelines to Recover Shares in IEPF

IEPF, which stands for Investor Education and Protection Fund, is mainly set up to protect the interests of investors. It also spreads awareness among investors about it by mentioning all the details on its website. Many times, people mistakenly fail to claim their shares which were transferred to IEPF by the Company, resulting in lost shares. And crores of such unclaimed funds take the shape of old equity shares, dividends, debentures, and more which pile up with IEPF.

If your funds are also lying with IEPF, you must track them and claim your shares in IEPF as soon as possible. Speaking of lost shares recovery, in this article, we will discuss the guidelines for recovering shares in IEPF. So, let’s get started!

Required Documents for lost share recovery from IEPF

1. Claim form with claimant’s signature.
2. Indemnity Bond claimant’s signature.
3. Copy of Acknowledgement bearing SRN number duly attested by the claimant.
4. Advance stamped receipt
5. Aadhar Card
6. PAN Card
7. Original certificate of refund of matured deposit or bond
8. Share certificate
9. Client master list duly attested by the claimant.
10. Proof of Entitlement
11. Canceled Cheque
12. Passport (including OCI and PIO for NRIs and foreigners)
13. Death certificate of the joint holder, in case he is deceased.

Along with these, IEPF Authority mandatorily requires the verification report by the Nodal Officer or Registrar of the bank.

Transfer of Unclaimed funds to IEPF

The Company must transfer the funds which are unclaimed or not paid for more than seven years to IEPF, along with interest accrued.
The Company has to submit all the transfer details to the IEPF authority. And the shareholder can only reclaim their lost shares transferred to IEPF by applying to the IEPF authority as it maintains and monitors the accounts’ details.

Read More: All you need to know about the Transfer and Transmission of Shares

How to recover the lost shares from IEPF?

Follow these steps for IEPF shares recovery,

Filing to IEPF Authority

The claimant must submit Form IEPF-5 on the MCA portal for recovery of lost shares.
Information that needs to be provided by the claimants are:

• The claimant’s details
• Company details from which the payment is due, including the CIN number
• Details of funds of dividend to be claimed
• Details of shares to be claimed
• Details of bank accounts linked to the Aadhaar card, from where the claim will be refunded
• Demat account number
• Aadhaar number

Submit the claim to the Company

The next step is sending a copy of the filled form to the Company’s IEPF Nodal Officer or Registrar. It should be sent in an envelope labeled “Claim for a refund from IEPA Authority.”
Required documents are:

• Copy of filled form IEPF-5 with claimant’s signature
• Copy of Acknowledgement with SRN number
• Receipt of original advance stamped along with the signature of claimant and witnesses.
• Original indemnity bond with claimant signature on non-judicial stamp paper with the amount mentioned under the stamp act.
• Aadhaar card
• Proof of entitlement
• Passport (including OCI and PIO for NRIs and foreigners)
• Original share certificates or copy of transaction statement
• Canceled cheque
• Copy of Demat account’s client master list

Submit the claim from the Company to IEPF Authority

Within 15 days of receiving the claim, the Company needs to provide the verification report and submit it to the IEPF Authority, attached with the documentation of the claimant.

Refund from IEPF to Claimant

The final procedure is of IEPF Authority, where they have to decide on the reimbursement application given by the claimant within 60 days. On approval, they issue a refund sanction order on the condition that the claimant shares the funds with the competent authority.
And after verifying the claimant’s entitlement, IEPF Authority, along with the Drawing and Disbursing Officer, sends the bill to the Pay to Account officer, who makes the payment.

Read More: How to Claim Unverified Dividends and Shares After Being Transferred to IEPF

Assistance from financial firms

Taking assistance from financial firms helps in recovering lost shares without any hurdles. And at Infiny solutions, you get assistance from professional certified financial and legal advisors. It solves all the problems occurring in IEPF shares recovery.
Infinity Solutions helps in recovering unclaimed funds, including,

• Issue of duplicate shares
• Recovery of lost shares
• Claims shares from IEPF

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that, for IEPF shares recovery, claimants need to fill out a prescribed form, Form IEPF-5 and submit it to the IEPF Nodal Officer or registrar of the Company. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs presented the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) rules in 2017 under Section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013. This states that any unclaimed dividend for more than seven years, counting from its date of declaration, gets transferred to the IEPF. And those who intend to recover their lost shares need to complete their transmission procedure from the Company. And once it’s filled and goes to the Nodal officer, they verify it and send the report to the IEPF authority, who later issues a receipt of the transfer and sanction letter for the refund to the claimant. After this, the shares are transferred to the claimant.