The Stock Market's Ghost Assets

The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) is run by the IEPF Authority under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, not by SEBI. When a dividend goes unclaimed for seven years in a row, the company must transfer those shares to the fund. They include shares of large, well-known companies whose owners' families simply never knew they existed. The shares can still be claimed back, using Form IEPF-5.

The demat system was supposed to make share ownership transparent. Instead, it created a digital layer that is invisible to families who do not know to look. A father's trading account at a broker the family has never heard of. Mutual fund SIPs running on auto-debit from an account the family closes after death. ETF holdings in a demat account with a different DP than the primary one.

Claiming these assets after death means the heirs first have to discover they exist, then go through transmission with each depository participant, registrar or fund house separately. With a registered nominee this is mostly paperwork. Without one, the heirs need more documents, and above set value limits, a succession certificate or probate. A claim from the IEPF also needs proof of the heirs' rights.

The fix is simple: document every demat account, trading account, and mutual fund folio in one place. Include broker names, DP IDs, and login details. Update nominees on each account. Share the master list with your family.

Sort My Legacy's Financial Inventory has an Investments category, one of its 12, for shares, mutual funds and demat accounts: the broker or platform, the folio or account number, the type of investment, its value and the nominee. Your family gets a complete financial picture, not ghost assets waiting to be discovered.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and rules change, so check with a qualified lawyer or CA before you act.