My father's old shares went to the IEPF. How do I get them back?

Why the shares moved

Under the Companies Act, if dividends on a holding go unclaimed for seven consecutive years, the company must transfer both the unpaid dividends and the underlying shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund.

This happens quietly. Families usually discover it only when they go looking for a share certificate they knew existed.

The process, in order

First, confirm the holding on the IEPF Authority website using the company name and folio number. Second, file Form IEPF-5 online and print the acknowledgement.

Third, send the physical pack to the company's nodal officer: the acknowledgement, an indemnity bond on stamp paper, an advance receipt, the original share certificate if you have it, the death certificate, proof of your entitlement as heir, and a cancelled cheque of the Aadhaar-linked account.

Fourth — and this is the slow part — the company verifies and issues an entitlement letter to the IEPF Authority. Fifth, the Authority credits the shares to your demat account.

Where families get stuck

The entitlement letter. Companies process these in batches, some are slow, and a pack with any defect goes to the back of the queue rather than getting a phone call.

The second common problem is a name mismatch: the shares are in "R. K. Gupta" and the death certificate says "Ramesh Kumar Gupta". Expect to need an affidavit explaining that these are the same person.

Find out what your case needs

The free check applies all of the above to your actual family and your actual accounts, and tells you the shares and the document list in two minutes.

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