MCA simplifies IEPFA claim settlement for Ease of Living & Doing Business

New Delhi, 12 Nov (KNN) The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has further simplified claim settlement process through rationalization of various requirements under (IEPFA) Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016.

It has taken this major step with the aim of enhancing Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business.

For claimants, requirement of Advance Receipt has been waived off, requirement of Succession Certificate/ Probate of Will/ Will has been relaxed up to INR 5,00,000 (five lakh) both for Physical & DEMAT shares, notarization of documents has been replaced with self-attestation and requirements of Affidavits and Surety relatively have been eased.

With regards to companies, requirement of attaching documents related to Unclaimed Suspense Account has been eased and companies have been given 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 INR 5,00,000.

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 INR 1,011 crore and dividends and other amounts exceeding INR 20 crore have been refunded.