Ministry of Corporate Affairs further simplifies IEPFA claim settlement process towards ease of doing business, living

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 rationalization of various requirements under Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs in a release said that "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 5,00,000 (five lakh) both for Physical and DEMAT shares, notarization of documents has been replaced with self-attestation and requirements of Affidavits and Surety relatively have been eased."

"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 document 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 5,00,000," said the Ministry.

Ministry said 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," it said.

Notably, Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) has been established under Section 125 of the Companies Act 2013 for the administration of the IEPF fund as per section 125 (3) of Companies Act 2013.

The main objective of the authority includes promoting Investor Education, Awareness and Protection, refunding unclaimed shares, dividends and other amounts transferred to it under sections 124 and 125 of the Companies Act 2013 to the rightful claimants. IEPFA works under the administrative control of MCA.

( With inputs from ANI )