Answer Book question
Yes. When dividends go unclaimed for seven consecutive years, the company must move the dividends and the underlying shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund. The shares are still yours. You claim them back by filing Form IEPF-5 online, sending the acknowledgement and documents to the company's nodal officer, and the IEPF Authority then transfers the shares to your demat account and pays the accumulated dividends. For a deceased holder, the legal heirs first get the shares transmitted in the company's records, then claim. It is slow, typically many months, but it works, and there is no deadline to claim.
Yes. When dividends go unclaimed for seven consecutive years, the company must move the dividends and the underlying shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund. The shares are still yours. You claim them back by filing Form IEPF-5 online, sending the acknowledgement and documents to the company's nodal officer, and the IEPF Authority then transfers the shares to your demat account and pays the accumulated dividends. For a deceased holder, the legal heirs first get the shares transmitted in the company's records, then claim. It is slow, typically many months, but it works, and there is no deadline to claim.
A family in Thiruvalla finds 1990s share certificates of a large company in a father's almirah, with no dividend received for fifteen years. The company's registrar confirms the shares went to IEPF. Today they are worth several lakh. After transmission to the heirs' names and a Form IEPF-5 claim, the shares arrive in a demat account with the dividends of the last seven years (earlier ones were forfeited to the fund under the rules).
Section 124–125 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the IEPF Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016 govern this. Dividends unpaid for seven years go to IEPF; shares on which dividends have been unclaimed for seven consecutive years follow. The company must publish a notice and write to the holder before transfer.
Reclaim: register on the MCA/IEPF portal, file IEPF-5 with details of the shares, the dividend years, the claimant's demat and bank details, and upload identity, address, the original certificates (or demat statement) and, for heirs, the succession documents; send the physical set to the company's nodal officer, who verifies and forwards a report to the IEPF Authority within 30 days; the Authority then processes, in practice over several months.
Companies must display the nodal officer's name and email on their website. Since 2023–24 the process is increasingly online with e-checking, and the Authority has run campaigns to speed refunds.
Related: physical shares cannot be transferred any longer; they must be dematerialised first, which for old certificates requires the company's registrar to verify signatures and, for heirs, a transmission under SEBI's simplified norms (up to ₹5 lakh per listing, and higher with a surety bond, without a succession certificate in many cases).
Whether the shares are in IEPF: the company's registrar (RTA) will confirm against the folio or certificate number The holder's name, folio number and the exact spelling used on the certificate Heirs: death certificate, legal heirship certificate, and SEBI-format transmission request to the RTA first A demat account in the claimant's name, mandatory for receipt The company's nodal officer contact, from its website
Assuming 'transferred to IEPF' means gone. It means parked. Also: sending a claim for shares still in a dead person's name; transmission in the company's records comes first, then IEPF-5.
Kerala families hold a surprising volume of 1980s–2000s physical shares from public issues, and the dividends stopped when the holder moved or died. The MITRA platform for forgotten mutual funds (SEBI, 2025) and the UDGAM portal for bank deposits complete the search; IEPF is the third place forgotten family money sits.
200 shares bought in 1994, bonus and splits since, now 1,600 shares worth ₹4 lakh. Dividends of the last seven years accumulated in IEPF: perhaps ₹25,000. Both recoverable on a successful IEPF-5 claim; the earlier dividends are not.
Dividends older than the seven-year window before transfer are forfeited. If the company has been struck off or is under insolvency, the claim may fail or be worthless. If the certificates are lost, a duplicate issue process with indemnity and advertisement precedes the claim.
Write to the company's RTA with the folio or certificate number to confirm status Heirs: complete transmission with the RTA; open a demat account File IEPF-5; send the physical set to the nodal officer; track on the portal
How do I claim a deceased parent's mutual funds? (Vol 1) My father owned shares. How do I find the demat account? (Vol 1)
Family support · Inheritance
Companies Act, 2013, Sections 124–125; IEPF Authority Rules, 2016 as amended · IEPF Authority portal, Form IEPF-5 instructions · SEBI circulars on transmission of securities (simplified norms) Last checked: 22 August 2026. Rates, limits and whether you may qualify change. Confirm with the official source before you act. Ask Kerala Rising: Use only general, non-identifying facts.
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This page is general orientation, not personal insurance, investment, medical, legal, lending, tax, employment, or professional advice. Rules, rates, deadlines, and decisions can change. Confirm the current position with the named official source and use a licensed or qualified professional where your situation requires one. Kerala Rising does not decide whether you may qualify, approve claims, or promise an outcome.