RBI UDGAM Portal 2026 Guide: Find Forgotten Bank Deposits

Look, most of us think we know exactly how much money we have. But the Reserve Bank of India recently released a report stating that an unbelievable Rs 78,213 crore is currently sitting in unclaimed bank deposits. Yes, you read that number correctly. That's a massive 26 percent increase from the previous year.

Honestly, it usually happens innocently enough. You switch jobs in 2016 and totally forget to close your old salary account. Or maybe your grandfather opened a fixed deposit in an SBI branch thirty years ago, misplaced the physical receipt, and didn't tell a single soul about it. After ten years of zero activity, banks classify these funds as unclaimed. Then they just transfer the money over to the Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund.

For a long time, finding this lost money meant physically visiting dozens of bank branches. It was an absolute nightmare of paperwork. Now, the central bank has built a centralized search tool. So, consider this your complete RBI UDGAM Portal 2026 Guide: How to Find and Claim Forgotten Bank Deposits. I spent the last few days testing the platform and reading through the latest Supreme Court observations. I figured out exactly what works. And what doesn't.

What the UDGAM portal actually does

UDGAM stands for Unclaimed Deposits Gateway to Access inforMation. Basically, it's a centralized web portal created by the RBI. Instead of logging into twenty different net banking apps, you just log into one government website. You enter a name. Then you search across multiple banks at once. If you ask me, the concept is actually pretty smart.

But you need to manage your expectations right now. The portal is essentially a search engine (and a somewhat clunky one at that). It tells you if an account exists under your name, and it tells you exactly which bank currently holds it. It won't show you the account balance. And no, it definitely won't let you transfer the money directly to your current UPI-linked account either. You still have to deal with the bank directly to get your cash.

Recently, the RBI told the Supreme Court that 30 major banks are now linked to the portal. People have already conducted over 44 lakh searches on it. The government is slowly being pushed to integrate other financial assets like mutual funds or insurance. But for now, this tool is strictly for bank deposits.

What you need before creating an account

Don't just jump onto the website empty-handed. The portal requires specific documents to run a search. Grab these items before you sit down at your computer:

• An active Indian mobile number for OTP verification.
• The exact spelling of the account holder's name. This is harder than it sounds if you're searching for a deceased relative who used different name formats over the years.
• At least one valid identity document number. You can use a PAN card, Voter ID, Driving License, or Passport.
• Your date of birth.

Listen, the government is heavily promoting this service. Because of that, cybercriminals have started creating fake apps and sending sketchy SMS links promising to recover your deposits. You should read our guide on financial cyber scams if you want to know how these frauds operate. The real UDGAM portal is only accessible via a web browser. There is absolutely no official mobile app.

Step-by-step: How to register and search on the UDGAM portal

The interface is fairly basic. But it gets the job done. Follow these exact steps to run your first search.

1. Open the official website: Type udgam.rbi.org.in directly into your browser. You will see a clean, mostly white and blue homepage featuring the Reserve Bank of India logo on the top left corner.
2. Click the register button: Look for the "Register" option below the login fields. Click it.
3. Fill in your basic details: Enter your mobile number. Then provide your first and last name. You also need to set a strong password and type in a CAPTCHA code.
4. Verify your mobile number: The system sends a six-digit OTP to your phone. Enter this to activate your account. Sometimes the RBI servers are slow. You might have to wait a minute or two for the SMS to arrive.
5. Log in to the dashboard: Go back to the homepage. Enter your mobile number and the password you just created. Then input the new CAPTCHA code. You'll be asked for another OTP. Yes, the login process requires an OTP every single time.
6. Enter your search criteria: This is the most important screen. Type the name of the account holder. Then, select a search document from the dropdown menu and enter the corresponding ID number. For example, select "PAN" and type the ten-digit alphanumeric PAN.
7. Select your banks: You can pick specific banks or just select "All". I highly recommend selecting "All" because bank mergers have complicated things. An old Corporation Bank account is now sitting with Union Bank of India. Searching all 30 banks covers your bases.
8. Hit search: Click the search button and wait. The page might take a few seconds to load as it queries the DEA fund database.

If the portal finds a match, the screen displays the bank's name and the account holder's name. It also gives you an Unclaimed Reference Number (URN). Take a screenshot of this page immediately. Write down the URN. You'll need it for the next phase.

I found an account. How do I get my money?

This is where the digital convenience ends. And the traditional Indian banking experience begins. You can't claim the money online. You simply have to visit a physical branch of the bank that holds the deposit. In my experience, it takes some patience.

The UDGAM portal is only a discovery tool. Final settlement and payment of unclaimed deposits must be processed directly by the respective bank branch after full KYC verification.

If you're claiming your own forgotten account, the process is a mess sometimes, but usually straightforward. Just walk into the nearest branch of that bank. You don't necessarily have to go to the specific home branch where the original account was opened. Tell the manager you found an unclaimed deposit on the UDGAM portal. Give them the URN.

You have to fill out a claim form. Then, you'll need to hand over copies of your PAN card and Aadhaar card, along with a few recent passport-sized photographs so they can fully update your KYC profile. Provide them with your current active bank account details. This lets them transfer the funds straight to you via NEFT or RTGS. The bank verifies your identity against their old records. This usually takes a week or two.

Claiming money for a deceased family member

This scenario is far more common. It's also, unfortunately, much more complicated. Many people use the portal to search for their late parents' accounts.

If your name was listed as a nominee on the original account, the process is manageable. You need to visit the bank with the URN, the original death certificate of the account holder, your own KYC documents, and proof of your relationship. You just fill out the deceased claim form. Then the bank processes the payment.

If there was no nominee registered, prepare for a long battle. The bank requires a legal heir certificate or a succession certificate from a court. You also need signed no-objection certificates from all other legal heirs. If you're dealing with a significant amount of money, you should probably consult a lawyer before approaching the bank. We have a detailed breakdown of inheritance paperwork in our legal documentation guides that you might find helpful.

Why did my search show zero results?

You know for a fact your father had an account with Central Bank of India in the 90s. But the portal says "No Results Found". This happens constantly. I'm not sure exactly why the database is so finicky, but there are a few main reasons for this.

The biggest hurdle is spelling. Bank clerks thirty years ago weren't exactly careful with data entry. If your PAN card says "Suresh Kumar Sharma" but the old bank passbook was opened under "S. K. Sharma", the portal won't find a match. The search algorithm needs exact matches. Try searching with different variations of the name if you have multiple old ID documents. (Annoying, I know).

Then there's the ten-year rule. The portal only lists accounts that have seen zero customer-initiated transactions for a full ten years. So if the account has been inactive for eight years, it won't show up on UDGAM at all. It is technically dormant, but it isn't unclaimed yet under RBI definitions. In that case, you just have to contact the bank directly to reactivate it.

Finally, remember that cooperative banks and smaller regional rural banks aren't fully integrated yet. The 30 major banks currently on the platform cover around 90 percent of all unclaimed deposits. But there are still gaps. The Supreme Court is pushing the RBI to create a more comprehensive policy. The numbers here are a bit fuzzy, but the portal will likely expand.

Finding out you have hidden money is great. Dealing with the paperwork to get it back is an absolute chore. But considering there's Rs 78,000 crore sitting in government vaults doing nothing, spending an hour on the UDGAM portal makes sense. Go run a search.