The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) was established to raise investor knowledge and defend their interests. IEPF began as a fund established under Section 205C of the Companies Act of 1956. It has now been defined under Section 125 of the Companies Act of 2013.
The Process
The IEPF was founded to raise investor awareness and safeguard their interests. This is the general overview of the process involved:
- The IEPF Authority will repay any individual with an unclaimed or underpaid payment deposited to the IEPF by the business.
- The company must present a statement to the IEPF Authority in the prescribed format, IEPF- 5, outlining the transfer details, and the authority will issue a receipt as proof of the transaction.
- In the event of shares whereby the dividend has not been given or had an IEPF Claim for more than seven years simultaneously, the firm must transfer the shares to the IEPF, together with a document detailing the transfer.
Required Documents
The following are the documents that must be supplied with the Form IEPF-5:
- Print a copy of the completed and uploaded claim form IEPF-5, together with the claimant’s signature and the signatures of all joint holders if applicable.
- After submitting the claim Form IEPF-5, a copy of the acknowledgment is created.
- To be performed is an indemnity bond with the signature of the claimant.
- Suppose the claim is for Rs.10,000 or more, a non-judicial Stamp Paper of the denomination stipulated by the Stamp Act. Please include the claimant’s and witness’s dates, places, and signatures.
- If the sum requested does not exceed Rs.10,000, it can be written on plain paper.
- A non-judicial Stamp Paper of the denomination stipulated by the Stamp Act in the case of a share refund during an IEPF Claim.
- Original advance stamped receipt with the claimant’s signature and the signatures of two witnesses.
- If a matured deposit, debenture, or bond is refunded, or if shares are claimed, the original certificate is required.
- A copy of the claimant’s Aadhaar card and a copy of each joint holder’s Aadhaar card, if there are any.
- Proof of eligibility is required.
- A Cancelled cheque leaf in its original state.
- In the instance of foreign nationals and NRIs, a copy of their passport, OCI, and PIO card is required.
- a copy of your PAN card
- Client Master List of Claimant’s De-mat A/c
- A duplicate of the death certificate must be submitted if any joint holder is deceased.
In Summary
The IEPF concept was first launched to utilize investor funds for their benefits, such as investor education and awareness programs. Later that year, the government transferred unclaimed dividend transfer to IEPF on which no dividends had been claimed for the previous seven years necessary. This caused ambiguity in moving the property to the government and various misunderstandings among all players. As a result, the MCA has revised this many times, including the most recent revision, dated August 14, 2019, which streamlined the procedure.
