In a major step towards the mission and vision of the Government of India of Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has further simplified the claim settlement process through rationalisation of various requirements under the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer, and Refund) Rules, 2016.
For claimants, the requirement of Advance Receipt has been waived off, requirement of Succession Certificate/ Probate of Will/ Will has been relaxed up to Rs 500000 both for Physical & DEMAT shares, notarisation of documents has been replaced with self-attestation and requirements of Affidavits and Surety relatively have been eased, an official release said today.
For companies, the requirement of attaching documents related to Unclaimed Suspense Account has been eased and companies have been given the flexibility to accept transmission documents viz. Succession Certificate, Will etc. as per their internal approved procedures and Newspaper Advertisement requirement for loss of physical Share Certificate has been waived off up to an amount of Rs.500000.
The focus of the change has been to make the process simpler and quicker for the claimants. The new regime envisages a trust-based model for faster citizen centric services and turnaround time. It is expected that with these changes many more claimants shall come forward to claim their shares and amounts from Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA). Till date IEPFA has approved more than 20,000 claims refunding more than 1.29 crore shares. Shares of market value of more than Rs 1,011 crore and dividends and other amounts exceeding Rs 20 crore have been refunded.