Services

• Search of the company's IEPF transfer records and the IEPF Authority database to establish exactly what was moved, and when
• Reconstruction of the folio history from certificates, old dividend warrants, annual reports and registrar records
• Obtaining the entitlement letter from the company or bank, now required before Form IEPF-5 can be filed at all
• Preparation and filing of Form IEPF-5 with the indemnity bond, advance receipt and affidavit in the prescribed formats
• Following the company's e-verification report, which is what starts the Authority's sixty day disposal period
• Correcting name, PAN, signature and bank mismatches with the registrar before the claim goes in rather than after it is rejected
• Dematerialisation of the holding so shares can actually be credited when the claim is allowed
• Claims for dividends declared after the transfer, which keep accruing to the IEPF on the same shares
• Transmission documentation where the registered holder has died, prepared alongside the claim rather than after it
• Working out entitlements from bonus issues, splits, rights offers, mergers and demergers attached to the original holding
• Answering deficiency letters and resubmitting where the Authority or the company raises an objection
• Written coordination with the registrar and transfer agent throughout, so there is a record of who was asked for what
• Handover pack at the end: what was recovered, what it came from, and the correspondence that produced it
• Appeals against a rejected claim, where that is the only route left, as a separate engagement agreed separately

The money is not forfeited and it does not expire. It has moved to a government fund, and it comes back only when the right person files the right form with documents the company is willing to certify.

• Establishing what the register actually shows, against what you hold, before any request is made
• Complete KYC updation with the registrar in Form ISR-1, covering PAN, address, bank, contact details and nomination in one submission
• Signature mismatch resolution in Form ISR-2, with banker attestation and the supporting documents the registrar will accept
• Nomination in Form SH-13, change of nomination in Form SH-14, or a recorded opt out in Form ISR-3
• Duplicate securities requests in Form ISR-4, with the affidavit and indemnity in the prescribed formats
• Drafting and placing the newspaper advertisement where the value of the holding requires one
• Preparing the police complaint or first information report where one is needed for a lost certificate
• Following the Letter of Confirmation through issue, and lodging it for dematerialisation inside its validity period
• Opening or identifying the demat account the holding will be credited to, before the window opens rather than after
• Correction of name, spelling, maiden name and address discrepancies across the folio and the KYC record
• Consolidation of multiple folios in the same name so one holding is managed rather than five
• Recovering entitlements attached to the holding: unpaid dividends, bonus shares, split shares and rights issues
• Escalation through the company's investor grievance channel and the SEBI complaints mechanism where a registrar does not act
• A written record of every form filed and every reply received, handed over at the end

A physical certificate has not been a tradeable instrument for years. What the registrar now issues in its place is a Letter of Confirmation, and it is valid for a limited window, so the paperwork and the demat account have to be ready at the same time.

• Establishing the full estate position across companies, registrars, depositories and fund houses, including holdings the family did not know about
• Advice on which succession route applies: nomination, will, probate, succession certificate or legal heirship certificate
• Transmission requests in the prescribed forms to registrars, transfer agents and depository participants
• Survivor requests where the holding was joint, which is a lighter process than a claim by heirs
• Preparation of affidavits, indemnity bonds and no objection declarations from co-heirs in the formats registrars accept
• Coordination of the document set so one properly assembled bundle serves every company in the estate
• Attestation, notarisation, apostille and consular formalities for heirs who are outside India
• Recovery of dividends, interest and redemption proceeds that accrued between the death and the transmission
• Working out entitlements from bonus issues, splits and rights offers that fell in the same period
• Dematerialisation of physical holdings once the folio stands in the correct names
• Splitting a holding between multiple heirs where the family has agreed how it is to be divided
• Identifying holdings already transferred to the IEPF, which are claimed separately and take longer
• Escalation through investor grievance channels where a registrar does not act within the prescribed time
• Succession applications where the estate has to be established through a court, which is a separate engagement and a court timeline rather than a claims one

Transmission is not a transfer and there is no buyer and no stamp duty. It is an identity question: the registrar has to be satisfied that you are the person entitled, and what satisfies it depends on whether there was a nomination, a will, or nothing at all.

• Free search of the Reserve Bank's unclaimed deposits facility and the individual bank listings, with the results explained in writing
• Identifying the successor institution where the original bank has since merged or been amalgamated
• Reconstructing the account history from passbooks, deposit receipts, cheque books, old statements, tax records and correspondence
• Bridging identity gaps: name changes, maiden names, spelling variants, old addresses and superseded identity documents
• Preparing the reactivation request and the fresh know your customer submission the branch will require
• Establishing the succession position where the depositor has died, and advising which document the value of the balance actually calls for
• Preparing affidavits, indemnities, no objection declarations and legal heirship applications in usable form
• Drafting the written claim to the bank, made and signed by the depositor or the heir, with a complete annexure set
• Attestation, notarisation and apostille guidance for claimants outside India
• Checking any settlement offered against the balance and the interest properly payable on it
• Drafting escalations to the bank's internal grievance authority and, where that fails, a complaint under the ombudsman scheme
• A written file of every request, acknowledgement and reply, so the claim can be escalated on the record

The search is free and the claim belongs to you. What takes families years is not the bank's process but the evidence behind it: proving the account was yours, or proving you are entitled to a dead relative's money.

• Tracing every provident fund account you hold, across employers, universal account numbers and regional offices
• Merging duplicate universal account numbers so a scattered balance can be dealt with as one
• Getting the date of exit marked where an employer never recorded it, including where the employer has closed
• Correcting name, date of birth, father or spouse name, and other details that do not match across the fund, identity and bank records
• Linking know your customer records and the bank account so a claim can actually be settled
• Preparing and following withdrawal claims, and the transfer claim where transferring rather than withdrawing is the better answer
• Reconstructing service history from appointment letters, salary slips, Form 16, bank credits and account statements
• Routing claims where the employer has been struck off, is in liquidation or has no traceable authorised signatory
• Pension component claims and scheme certificate applications, which are separate from the fund withdrawal
• Death claims by nominees and legal heirs, including the associated insurance benefit under the deposit linked insurance scheme
• Reading rejection reasons properly and fixing the actual defect rather than resubmitting the same claim
• Drafting grievances through the fund's own redressal machinery, with the written record to support escalation
• Advice on the tax treatment of a withdrawal, and on when it is worth transferring instead

An account goes inoperative after three years without a contribution, and the balance is still yours. What blocks the withdrawal is almost never entitlement. It is a field in a record that an employer was supposed to complete and did not.

• Searching the insurance regulator's unclaimed amounts facility and individual insurer listings against the details you can supply
• Searching the mutual fund industry facility for inactive and unclaimed folios, including folios held by a relative you may be entitled to claim
• Identifying policies and folios from fragmentary evidence: premium receipts, bank debits, tax filings, account statements and correspondence
• Reconstructing what a policy was worth, including bonus, guaranteed additions and survival benefits already due
• Preparing maturity, survival benefit and surrender claims with the discharge documentation insurers require
• Death claims by nominees and legal heirs, including where the policy is old, lapsed or was revived
• Reading a repudiation properly and drafting the representation against it where the ground given does not hold
• Checking a settled claim for short payment, unpaid bonus and the interest payable for delayed settlement
• Complete know your customer rehabilitation on dormant folios, including address, bank mandate and signature updation with the registrar
• Transmission of units where the unit holder has died, with the succession documents the registrar accepts at that value
• Consolidating folios scattered across fund houses and registrars into a position that can be managed
• Claims for amounts already transferred to the Senior Citizens' Welfare Fund, which remain claimable after transfer
• Drafting complaints to the insurer's grievance officer and, where that fails, to the insurance ombudsman
• Attestation and remittance guidance for claimants living outside India

Both industries hold very large sums in the names of people who are alive, contactable and unaware of it. A claim is not barred by the passage of time, but the evidence needed to make it gets harder to assemble every year.

• Ageing and triage of the receivables ledger, sorted by recoverability rather than by size
• Establishing the documentary position on each account: contract, purchase order, delivery proof, acceptance, invoice, ledger confirmation and correspondence
• Limitation review across the ledger, including which acknowledgements and part payments have restarted the clock
• Structured pre legal demand and follow up, escalating in a defined sequence rather than by whoever remembers to call
• Statutory demand notices, and notices under the Negotiable Instruments Act on dishonoured cheques within the prescribed period
• Delayed payment references for registered micro and small enterprises, including the interest claim at the statutory rate
• Pre institution mediation under the commercial courts framework, which is compulsory where no urgent relief is sought
• Invoking arbitration where the contract provides for it, including the notice and the appointment process
• Demand notices and applications under the insolvency framework against corporate debtors, where the default meets the threshold
• Recovery from personal and corporate guarantors, and enforcement of any security that was taken
• Enforcement of awards and decrees, which is a separate exercise from obtaining them
• Settlement negotiation at every stage, because most of these matters end in a settlement rather than a judgment
• Instructing and coordinating with counsel for anything requiring appearance before a court or tribunal
• Monthly written reporting on every account under mandate, with what was done and what it produced

Most receivables are not disputed. They are simply unpaid, because nothing has yet made paying more attractive than not paying. Choosing the right pressure early costs a fraction of choosing the wrong one late.

• Assessment of a settlement offer against the realistic recoverable value of the claim, the cost of continuing and the debtor's actual ability to pay
• Structuring one time settlements, instalment plans, deferred payment arrangements and part cash part security closures
• Drafting settlement agreements, deeds of settlement, consent terms and no dues confirmations
• Revival and acceleration clauses, so a default returns the creditor to the original claim rather than the reduced one
• Release wording drawn to the actual bargain, naming what is released and expressly preserving what is not
• Preserving claims against guarantors, group companies and third parties who are not paying for the release
• Security for the settlement: post dated instruments, guarantees, charges, escrow arrangements and undertakings
• Consent terms recorded before a court, tribunal or arbitral tribunal where proceedings are already on foot
• Settlement of matters in mediation and conciliation, including under statutory schemes
• Advice on stamp duty and execution formalities in the relevant state so the instrument is admissible when needed
• Flagging the tax and accounting consequences of a waiver for both sides before signature rather than after
• Portfolio settlement programmes for a large number of small accounts, with a standard structure and a defined concession band
• Monitoring the settlement to completion and acting immediately on the first default rather than the third

Almost every recovery ends in a settlement rather than a judgment. The difference between a good one and a bad one is not the headline figure. It is what happens on the second missed instalment.

• Monitoring public announcements so an admission is picked up inside the claim window rather than after it
• Determining the correct class of claim and the prescribed form that goes with it
• Assembling proof of claim: contract, purchase orders, delivery and acceptance evidence, ledgers, confirmations, invoices and correspondence
• Quantifying the claim properly, including interest to the commencement date and foreign currency conversion
• Filing, and responding to the professional's queries, revisions and partial admissions
• Advice on the position of a secured creditor in liquidation, and on the election to realise or relinquish security
• Supporting participation in the committee of creditors, including the papers behind a vote
• Applications where a claim is wrongly rejected or wrongly classified, prepared and, as a separate engagement, pursued before the tribunal
• For professionals and liquidators: reconstruction of the debtor's receivables ledger and the evidence behind each account
• For professionals and liquidators: verification of claims received, against the records of the corporate debtor
• Identification of preferential, undervalued, extortionate and fraudulent transactions in the look back period
• Work on assets that are not readily realisable, including the assignment route available to a liquidator
• Due diligence for buyers evaluating a disputed, contingent or litigated receivable offered by an estate
• Recovery work on assigned claims after acquisition, which is where the value in them is actually realised

A creditor who files late, files in the wrong class or files without proof is not a creditor in the process at all. And an estate carrying disputed receivables and avoidance claims is carrying value nobody has time to chase.

• Establishing the debtor's current legal identity through the corporate registry: name changes, status, strike off, amalgamation and demerger history
• Current registered office, directors, signatories and their other directorships, from public records
• Identifying the successor entity where a business has been transferred, merged or restructured, and whether the liability travelled with it
• Checking whether the debtor is already in insolvency, liquidation or under any published process, which changes the route entirely
• Locating proprietors and partners of unincorporated debtors through public and commercial records
• Charge and security searches to establish what is already encumbered and who ranks ahead of you
• Reconstructing the account from whatever survives: contracts, purchase orders, delivery challans, acceptance records, tax filings, bank credits and correspondence
• Reconciling the debtor ledger against tax return data and bank records to establish what can actually be proved
• Limitation analysis on each reconstructed account, including which acknowledgements restarted the clock
• Recoverability scoring across a portfolio, so effort follows the accounts that will repay it
• Restoration analysis where a struck off company holds an account worth reviving the entity for
• Written case files on each account, in a form a demand, a reference or an application can be built on
• Portfolio due diligence for buyers and assignees of receivables and distressed claims

Two things stop recovery before it starts. Nobody knows where the debtor is now, and nobody can prove what was owed. Both are fixable, and both get harder every year they are left.