New Delhi: An overhaul of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) has dramatically reduced the time taken for investors to recover unclaimed shares and dividends from nearly three years to just a few days, according to a new working paper released earlier this week by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

The working paper ‘How to do Process Reforms: Case study of IEPFA’, authored by EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal and director Aakanksha Arora, showcases the IEPFA revamp as a case study in process reforms, demonstrating how incremental administrative change can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance ease of doing business and ease of living.According to the paper, as of 31 March 2025, the IEPFA was holding unclaimed shares and dividends worth an estimated Rs 80,000–Rs 90,000 crore, while lakhs of investors struggled with a lengthy and fragmented recovery process.

The report says that when the EAC-PM began looking into the issue in early 2025, claiming unclaimed shares or dividends involved 25 separate steps spread across three disconnected digital systems—the MCA-21 portal, depository portals such as National Securities and Depositories Limited (NSDL)/Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL), and the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).As the systems did not communicate with one another, claimants repeatedly had to re-enter information manually, upload documents and cross-check records. Even a small error could send applications back to the beginning of the process.The report notes that investors often abandoned claims midway or turned to intermediaries and brokers who charged commissions to navigate the process.The biggest bottleneck, according to the paper, emerged after approvals were granted. While approval itself took around 1.5 years on average, the subsequent transfer of shares and dividend payments through separate portals added another 18-24 months.“Even after the approval by IEPFA, the transfer of shares and dividends took another 18 to 24 months. In other words, the whole process took almost three years from the initial filing of claim,” the paper states.Key reforms behind the turnaround