The Government is working on the system to reduce the timelines for processing of claims, said Ms. Anita Shah Akella, CEO, Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority & Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India. She said that presently the time taken to settle claims is too long as there is a lot of reliance on physical verification to certify and verify actual claimant. She shared a few steps taken by the IEPF Authority to improve claimant experience including search facility to check if shares are with IEPFA or Companies; Integration of MCA21, Depositories, PFMS & Faster verification of claimant identity and entitlement by prevalidation of details at form filing stage using Aadhaar-PAN-Demat-Bank linkage, among others.

Ms. Akella further highlighted the steps taken to improve greviance redressal system. She said that the ticketing system has been implemented on the MCA Portal thus helping in tracking of responses. The Government is also conducting Niveshak Panchayat in Delhi every week and Niveshak Sunwai in different cities from time to time. The initiative of holding Niveshak Shivir camps across the country in partnership with SEBI for end to end resolution of issues of physical shareholders has also commenced with the first one already held in Pune.

Mr. Sameet Gambhir, Chair, Corporate Affairs Committee, PHDCCI gave the theme address. He shared that numerous issues are still being encountered by the investors who are trying to get their claims from IEPF.

Speakers at the technical session on IEPF included Mr. Lokesh Dhyani, Partner, Aekom Legal who spoke on the Legal framework compliance and challenges; Ms. Swati Lahiri, FCS, ACMA, LLB who deliberated on the Practical Aspects and process of treatment of unclaimed dividends and shares.

Mr. Mohit Luthra, Assistant Secretary General, PHDCCI delivered the Opening Remarks and moderated the Seminar. Mr. Rishi Kapoor, Co- Chair, Corporate Affairs Committee, PHDCCI delivered the Vote of Thanks.

The Seminar was a part of Knowledge Series on Corporate Affairs being organised by the Corporate Affairs Committee for 2025-26. The Knowledge Series is powered by Trilegal & UFlex Limited as the Principal Partners; Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan as Co-Partner; KPMG as Knowledge Partner;  Aekom Legal, Paramount Wires & Cables, Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors and Deep Blue Express as Associate Partners; Amber Enterprises India Ltd, Desai & Diwanji, Factum Legal, Kapoor & Co., SDPS Partners LLP, Vishwa Samudra Bio Energy Private Limited & Speciality Merchandising Services as Supporting Partners.  ICSI and ICMAI were the Institutional Partners to the Seminar.