¹[26A. Establishment of Depositor Education and Awareness Fund.—(1) The Reserve Bank shall establish a Fund to be called the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (hereafter in this section referred to as the Fund).

(2) There shall be credited to the Fund the amount to the credit of any account in India with a banking company which has not been operated upon for a period of ten years or any deposit or any amount remaining unclaimed for more than ten years, within a period of three months from the expiry of the said period of ten years:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall prevent a depositor or any other claimant to claim his deposit or unclaimed amount or operate his account or deposit account from or with the banking company after the expiry of said period of ten years and such banking company shall be liable to repay such deposit or amount at such rate of interest as may be specified by the Reserve Bank in this behalf.

(3) Where the banking company has paid outstanding amount referred to in sub-section (2) or allowed operation of such account or deposit, such banking company may apply for refund of such amount in such manner as may be specified by the authority or committee referred to in sub-section (5).

(4) The Fund shall be utilised for promotion of depositors' interests and for such other purposes which may be necessary for the promotion of depositors interests as may be specified by the Reserve Bank from time to time.

(5) The Reserve Bank shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify an authority or committee, with such members as the Reserve Bank may appoint, to administer the Fund, and to maintain separate accounts and other relevant records in relation to the Fund in such forms as may be specified by the Reserve Bank.

(6) It shall be competent for the authority or committee appointed under sub-section (5) to spend moneys out of the Fund for carrying out the objects for which the Fund has been established.]

1. Ins. by Act 4 of 2013, s. 8 (w.e.f. 18-1-2013).