IEPF Claim of Procter & Gamble (P&G) Shares: A Comprehensive Guide

Procter & Gamble, aka P&G, made pretty impressive moves about paying out its shares or dividends.

According to statistical reports, the company has been paying out its dividends to its shareholders consistently for more than a century. Yes, it has been 135 years since the company’s been doing this.

What’s more interesting is that it increased the rate of dividend payouts for the last 69 years of those 135 years.

However, you may need to control your excitement right here if you are a P&G shareholder.

And that’s because there are challenges to claiming these shares.

Not claiming your shares may get them transferred to the IEPF (Investor Education and Protection Fund).

It surely restores P&G shares to the owner. However, that happens at the cost of complex documentation and verification processes, which may either slow the recovery down or reject your appeals for it.

Then you get to face issues such as currency conversion, no will of the shareholder (for reasons such as negligence, misinformation, or unfortunate death of the shareholder), cross-border regulations, and more.

To learn how you can claim Procter & Gamble (P&G) shares from IEPF, you must do a little homework on the verification process. It can simplify your journey of shared recovery.

Besides that, though, you can always choose consultants to help you with the process quicker than usual. In this way, you can leave solving complex issues to the professionals while you get to focus on important work.

What is IEPF? 

IEPF or the Investor Education and Protection Fund is an organisation established by the Indian Central Government to protect the shareholder/ investor ownership of shares from all companies when they are registered under the Companies Act.

Thanks to IEPF, you get to secure your share ownership if you are not aware of its status. In case you forget or miss claiming your shares, then your assets are protected by IEPF as well.

The role of IEPF may directly define its responsibilities in protecting your shares when you’re not actively involved in managing them. However, at the same time and in the way of protecting these shares, IEPF educates the shareholders. It raises awareness on share authorisations and makes shareholders/ investors more conscious about active share ownership and management.

You may want to appeal for an IEPF claim when you find your P&G shares transferred to it. The process might be a bit lengthy and extensive. However, with attention to detail and minutely following all regulations, you can easily get back your ownership and shares.

Why Do Shares and Dividends End  Up in IEPF?  

There is a fundamental reason that dictates why shares end up with the IEPF authority.

It is that your shares are transferred to the IEPF when you have not claimed them and have not been involved with them for 7 years consecutively. This is where the transfer of shares from the shareholder to the IEPF  becomes mandatory.

It, however, doesn’t really change the share ownership. You can say your shares are transferred and protected by IEPF at this phase.

There is a question, though. Why, despite no such concerning issues with your Procter & Gamble (P&G) shares, do they get transferred to the IEPF authority after these 7 years?

The answer lies in the lack of awareness among shareholders to constantly update shareholder data. These gaps in formal communication and continuous verification create significant administrative complications with your share ownerships.

Think of a common but serious issue, such as outdated contact numbers or contact information of the shareholder.

When you miss updating your contact number or information, your company (in this case, P&G) faces issues accessing your share status and shareholder information. Moreover, it can encounter complications related to the rights of shares.

Problems of this kind not only create communication gaps between the company and shareholders but also result in late or delayed release of dividends.

Now that you know what happens to your shares when you don’t claim them for 7 years, it is time for you to claim shares from IEPF effectively. Keep in mind that you need to update your shareholder information as well as provide all other documents 100% accurately to get your Procter & Gamble (P&G) ownership back.

Eligibility Criteria for Claiming P&G Shares from IEPF  

You see, the eligibility comes from two particular areas of share ownership. One comes from the company’s end and the other, of course, from the shareholder’s side.

Let’s go with the company information first. As mentioned earlier, your share from a company moves to the IEPF if the company is registered under the Companies Act. Otherwise, there are different rules for the share transfer and claims.

Now, if we speak of the shareholder information, then the shareholder must be:

• Original shareholder of the P&G shares
• The legal heir or successor of the original shareholder (in case the shareholder is missing for a prolonged time or he/ she passes away, unfortunately)
• Nominee, who was, of course, nominated as the successor of the shares

The matter of paperwork varies between shareholders and heir/ successor/ nominees because the latter have to show more documents.

While the shareholder has to submit verification proofs such as IDs (Aadhar card, PAN, etc.), financial details (bank details), and P&G share details, an heir or successor needs to submit extra documentation.

The probate of the will is an official document that legalises the heir by court order of the shareholder. It means the shareholder made a will for the heir.

The succession certificate, however, is what the court issues in favour of a legal heir of the shareholder when the shareholder unfortunately passes away without leaving a will.

In these cases, the death certificate of the shareholder is also an essential document to recover the P&G share claim.

The nominee must provide all these details with valid nomination proofs. Moreover, the nominee’s details must also be registered with Procter & Gamble.

Step-by-Step Guide to Claiming P&G Shares from IEPF 

It is time you got back your P&G shares. Below are a few points that may tell you how to claim shares from IEPF following a process that doesn’t fail.

Step 1: Gain the Entitlement Letter from Procter & Gamble  

Every company has a Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA) to help shareholders with share transfer and many other share ownership-related matters. The RTA works as an intermediary between the company and the shareholder. To get back your P&G shares, you need to contact the RTA from P&G to obtain an entitlement letter. The said letter permits you to the IEPF claim process.

Step 2: File Form IEPF-5 on the MCA Portal 

The next thing you’ll need to do is to claim the P&G shares that moved to IEPF and obtain another detail called the Service Request Number (SRN). To do that, you’ll need to reach the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) official website and search for a section dedicated to IEPF. You are supposed to locate the IEPF-5 form under the ‘IEPF Services’ section. By applying with this form, you get an SRN generated by IEPF for you.

Step 3: Prepare Documents for Submission 

IEPF is very strict with the documentation part, and this is where your IEPF claim recovery process is likely to suffer hiccups. Your job here is to deliver the correct and valid shareholder details to avoid impediments. Make sure you have double-checked all these documents quite seriously before submitting them with the IEPF-5 form. We are looking at documents such as validated ID proofs, address proofs, and all related documents supporting your P&G shareholder details.

Step 4: Send Physical Documents to the Nodal Officer 

In the previous stage, you have finished sending your personal and share-related documents in the soft copy or the electronic version. However, you must submit the same documents (with, of course, unaltered information) to the Nodal Officer of Procter & Gamble. Make sure you have these documents signed or self-attested before sending them to the officer. You can mail or Speed Post these documents to the professional.

Step 5: Verification by the Company 

At this point, you can say you are done with the basic formalities of the share recovery process. Now, Procter & Gamble is going to do its part to verify your documentation. The company might set up a board meeting to discuss the shareholder claim and verify the shareholder documents. The company is likely to approve and forward the claim to the IEPF authority if there are no such validation issues. Again, don’t think it goes equally for all P&G shareholders.

Step 6: IEPF Authority Review and Approval 

It is at this process, the IEPF authority receives the approved shareholder claim from the company and then examines it on the grounds of shareholder documents. With this step being done, the IEPF authority takes preparation to restore your Procter & Gamble share ownership.

Step 7: Credit of Shares to Demat Account 

What more can I expect now than to wait for receiving your P&G shares and gaining back your ownership? With the approval of IEPF, the shareholders are supposed to receive their shares in the demat account. To ensure this transfer doesn’t suffer hiccups, check your demat account and keep it active.

Documents Required for IEPF Claim 

As mentioned earlier, you will have to submit tons of documents to claim Procter & Gamble shares from IEPF, and you have to be sincere in doing so. The documents must not be wrong even at the slightest level, must all be updated and valid, as well as self-attested by the shareholder for submission.

Please note again that there shouldn’t be any dissimilarities between the electronically submitted details (soft copy) and the physically mailed documents (hard copy).

If you are an Indian citizen holding Procter & Gamble shares, then you must attach and send the documents listed below:

• PAN Card

• Aadhar Card

• Cancelled Cheque

• Demat Account Details and Bank Account Number

• IEPF-5 Form

• Entitlement Letter

• Indemnity Bond

If you are a non-resident Indian (NRI) or a foreigner owning shares from P&G, then you might want to supply these documents as well:

• Passport/ PIO (Person of Indian Origin)/ OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card number
• Foreign ID and address proof
• Bank account details and demat account number
• Other documents, otherwise important for a national shareholder (as mentioned)

Common Errors to Avoid When Filing IEPF-5 Form   

The entire procedure of claiming shares from IEPF must be free from the smallest errors.

However, that may not always be the case, as almost countless mistakes happen from the end of the shareholders quite naturally. No one is to be blamed here. It’s just the way things turn out to be with time.

Let’s find out about this with the help of a simple reference.

What if you’re a shareholder and you have grown old with time? You might develop nervous or muscle issues, for which your signature changes. This change may not render with the IEPF authority because it wants the exact and matching signature that you used to have before.

Problems like these can slow your P&G share recovery process. A few issues similar to these can get your claim rejected. Take a look below to find out more about them:

• Mismatch of name and signature

• Incorrect Date of Birth

• Invalid PAN/Aadhar

• Incorrect Bank Details

• Missing Documents or distorted details

Role of Infinity Solutions in Simplifying the IEPF Claim Process 

What if you’re a P&G shareholder and you find you’re not eligible for IEPF claims?

That’s okay. Things like these might happen to any shareholder, provided there is a mismatch or an issue in the documentation.

Many shareholders may lack information or clarity regarding the Procter & Gamble share recovery process. It can keep them waiting for a long time without being certain of getting back their share ownership.

This is why professionals such as us exist.

We at Infiny Solutions simplify the process of Procter & Gamble (P&G) share recovery without hiccups. We can solve issues with your claim and give you the quickest route to restoring your share ownership.

Wondering who we are? We are India’s top-rated share/ investment recovery consultants, who are skilled to help you navigate complex legal pathways for claiming P&G shares easily and quickly.

Where do we excel?

With us, you can get personalised assistance on P&G claim recovery. We are always ready to listen to your most challenging problems regarding IEPF claim recovery. We try to understand your claim status and its possible issues to examine the situation and guide you meaningfully to recover shares as swiftly as possible.

Conclusion 

We hope you got relevant and helpful information in this post to claim Procter & Gamble (P&G) shares from IEPF effectively.

Keep in mind that recovering your shares by claiming them might be a lengthy and stressful procedure.

But it’s not ‘impossible’.

With proper methods, you’ll get back your authority over the P&G shares you own for sure.

And if you need help, then the team of Infiny Solutions is always ready to make all of this easier for you.

We serve many clients who have shares from P&G and other companies.

By offering transparent and reliable consultancy services, we have secured a wide recognition in the field of unclaimed share recovery in India.

Working with us, you can keep your shareholder details safe instead of trying to manage them yourselves in an unpredictable online network.

Know more about who we are and what we can do for you to streamline P&G share recovery on our website.