LIC's unclaimed maturity amounts reaches ₹881 crore in FY24

As many as 3.72 lakh policyholders did not claim maturity benefits during FY2024, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

During the previous year, he said, the amount worth ₹815.04 crore belonging to 3.73 lakh policyholders remained unclaimed.

As many as 10 death claims worth ₹14 lakh remained unclaimed during 2023-24, he said.

In order to reduce the Unclaimed and Outstanding Claims, LIC has undertaken several measures, including print media and digital media advertisement apart from radio jingles for policyholders to claim their due amounts.

Outstanding amounts lying in unclaimed accounts are settled in favour of respective policyholders or claimants upon receipt of claim request, he said.

Reminder letters are sent through ordinary/speed post as well as through email where available and also SMS are sent where mobile numbers are available, he said.

The claim settlement process is simplified and only valid NEFT is required to settle the claim, he said, adding that continuous follow-up is made with the policyholders through agents and development officers to comply with the requirement and claim the amounts.

In reply to another question, Chaudhary said the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) decreased by 2.63% for the week ended November 15, 2024, against the previous week.

However, in percentage terms, the highest decline till date in the last 20 years was observed in the week ended October 24, 2008, with FER declining by 5.65% over the previous week, he said.

The value of the Indian Rupee (INR) is market-determined, with no target or specific level or band, he said.

Apart from capital flows (which include equity flows as well), the factors that influence the exchange rate of INR include movement in the dollar index, level of interest rates, movement in crude prices, current account deficit, etc, he said.

Further, it said, RBI intervenes in the forex market to curb undue volatility in INR.

There are 5,728 Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) and Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) whose Certificate of Registration (CoR) has been cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as on June 30, 2024, he said in another reply.

As on June 30, 2024, as many as 25 deposits taking NBFCs are registered with RBI.

Complaints received regarding harassment of borrowers by recovery agents are taken up with the Supervised Entities (SEs) for immediate action by RBI.

The RBI guidelines provide for informing borrowers of comprehensive information about the fees/charges, etc, he said.

Moreover, he said, the guidelines direct lenders to release all securities on receiving payment of loan or realisation of loan and non-interference in the affairs of the borrowers by lenders.

For recovery of loans, he said, the guidelines prescribe that the lenders should not resort to undue harassment viz. persistently bothering the borrowers at odd hours and use of muscle power for recovery of loans, etc.

Further, he said, compliance to RBI guidelines issued to Regulated Entities (REs) is examined during their Supervisory Assessment and any non-compliance observed is taken up with the REs for rectification apart from initiating supervisory/ enforcement action against the REs, as per regulations and law.