Saksham Niveshak: The IEPFA’s 100-Day Rescue Mission for India’s Forgotten Dividends

On 28 July 2025, the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority set in motion a tightly calibrated one-hundred-day exercise intended to retrieve unclaimed dividends before they are transferred to the fund itself. Termed “Saksham Niveshak”, the campaign will conclude on 6 November 2025. Within this finite window, the Authority will mobilise companies, registrars and depositories to alert every registered shareholder whose dividends have remained unpaid, and to guide each holder through the statutory steps required to update KYC particulars and nomination records.

The measure is born of a sobering arithmetic: large volumes of declared dividends remain in corporate suspense accounts because shareholders have failed either to encash warrants or to maintain current bank mandates and identity records. If these deficiencies persist beyond the prescribed seven-year period, both the unpaid dividend and the underlying shares are transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund. Recovery thereafter is encumbered by a separate statutory procedure and an additional layer of documentation.

Saksham Niveshak therefore places the onus on companies to assume an active stewardship role. Each listed entity and registrar is expected to scrutinise its register, identify affected shareholders, and furnish clear instructions for digital KYC completion and nomination updates. The Authority has simultaneously reinforced its field formations—Niveshak Didi, Niveshak Panchayat and Niveshak Shivir—to disseminate the same information in rural and semi-urban jurisdictions.

The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority’s “Saksham Niveshak” campaign is a disciplined 100-day campaign that will run until 6 November 2025 with the sole purpose to help investors reclaiming unclaimed dividends before they are transferred to the fund. The Authority, constituted under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, remains duty-bound to advance financial literacy, defend investor. By extending the reach of Niveshak Didi, Niveshak Panchayat and Niveshak Shivir into every district, the Authority continues its endeavour to cultivate an investor community that is informed, vigilant and resolute in asserting its entitlements.

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