Frequently asked questions

A share whose owner the company can no longer reach, or who has stopped responding. After seven consecutive years of unclaimed dividends, the company transfers both the dividends and the shares themselves to the IEPF Authority. The shareholding continues to exist and remains claimable.

Common signs: you hold physical certificates but have not received a dividend in years; a relative mentioned investments nobody can find; annual reports stopped arriving. Companies publish lists of shareholders whose shares are due to be transferred to the IEPF, and the IEPF portal allows searches. Send us the names and we will check for you.

No. There is no limitation period for claiming from the IEPF, and no expiry on share ownership. Cases from the 1970s and 1980s are recovered regularly. Older cases simply need more documentation.

Yes, in almost every case. Your certificate corresponds to shares in the successor entity, often multiplied by bonus issues and splits along the way. Only where a company was wound up with no successor does the holding lose value.

Yes. Recovered shares are credited in dematerialised form, so an active demat account in the correct name and holding pattern is required. If you do not have one, we will guide you through opening it before the claim reaches that stage.

The search and assessment are free. If we take the case on, we agree a written fee in advance — normally success-linked, plus actual out-of-pocket costs such as stamp paper, notarisation, newspaper advertisements and courier. Nothing is charged before you approve the proposal.

No. Recovered shares are credited directly to your demat account and dividends directly to your bank account. We never hold your securities or funds, and we never ask for your demat, banking or trading passwords, PINs or OTPs.

A clean dematerialisation can complete in about 30–60 days. A straightforward IEPF claim commonly takes 6–12 months. Cases involving a deceased holder, missing certificates, or several companies at once frequently run beyond a year. Timelines are set by the Registrars and the authority.

Yes. This is one of the most common situations we handle. Recovery runs through transmission to the legal heirs, supported by a legal heir or succession certificate, affidavits, an indemnity bond and no-objection letters from the other heirs. SEBI permits a simplified route below a prescribed value threshold.

Almost always. Rejections are usually procedural — a name mismatch, an incorrect stamp value, missing originals, or transmission that was never completed first. Send us the rejection letter; it normally identifies the defect precisely.

Yes. NRIs and foreign nationals of Indian origin can claim, with the proceeds credited to an appropriate NRO or NRE account subject to the applicable rules. Documents executed abroad generally need notarisation and, depending on the country, apostille or consular attestation.

Dividend income is taxable in the hands of the recipient, and capital gains arise when the shares are eventually sold, calculated from the original cost of acquisition where it can be established. We are not tax advisers — please take advice from your chartered accountant.

Not to start with. The free search works from photographs or scans. Originals are only required at the point a Registrar or depository genuinely needs them, and always with a written acknowledgement and tracked courier.

Yes, and if your case is simple we will tell you to. Everything we do is available directly through the company, its Registrar or the IEPF portal at no professional cost. People engage us when the case is complicated, contested, very old, or has already failed once.