Here’s How MITRA Can Help Track Your Inactive and Unclaimed MF Folios

During the present market volatility, most investors are playing it safe by managing risk and stability within their portfolios. While a few are investing in risk-averse instruments such as fixed deposits and gold, mutual funds also continue to experience sustained inflows. AMFI data reveals that flows into debt mutual funds increased to an all-time high of Rs 1,28,652.58 crore in January 2025, while equity inflows suffered as a result of market volatility.

[Read: Decoding the Recent Market Correction: What's Behind the Fall in Mid and Small Caps]

This movement indicates that individual investors are still interested in the growth of the market but taking a more strategic and diversified route, prefer less risky solutions such as debt funds over pure equity funds.

Interestingly, folios of mutual funds have been growing steadily, an indication of increased investor confidence in long-term wealth generation. SIP contributions have seen a decent increase, indicating that retail investors are following a systematic investment approach, even in uncertain times. The consistent increase in mutual fund folios is indicative of how investors are becoming aware of the need to remain invested and benefit from market opportunities.

Mutual funds are an effective instrument of wealth creation with diversification and inflation-beating returns. By investing either in SIPs or lump sum, they assist the investor in systematically growing their wealth while mitigating risk. As participation in mutual funds continues to rise, a large number of investors end up having several folios spread over various fund houses, making it a daunting task to track it over time.

Investors may tend to lose track of their investments when there is a change in jobs, relocation, or old contact information, resulting in inactive or unclaimed folios. Some investors may discontinue their SIPs without keeping track of accumulated units, while few fail to update KYC information, depriving them of access to their own money. Even in the event of an investor's death, legal successors/heirs remain unaware of these investments, leaving huge amounts unclaimed.

[Read: Should You Stay Invested in Mutual Funds]

Having said that, inactive and unclaimed mutual fund (MF) folios have turned into a burgeoning issue, resulting in idle assets. To identify this problem, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has introduced MITRA (Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant), an online platform to assist investors in tracing their inactive and unclaimed mutual fund investments.

Although fund houses and regulators have brought in retrieval mechanisms, platforms such as 'MITRA' provide a systematic and easy method of tracking, consolidating, and recovering these investments so that no hard-earned money goes to waste.

The market regulator SEBI in its circular dated February 12, 2025 states about the launch of 'MITRA' a new platform to help investors trace their unclaimed or inactive mutual fund folios.

What is MITRA?

MITRA, or Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant, is a project of AMFI to offer a single-stop solution for investors to trace, find, and recover their dormant or unclaimed mutual fund investments. It is an online platform where investors can enter basic details and view information about their forgotten or old mutual fund investments with asset management companies (AMCs).

The major objective of MITRA is to minimize unclaimed mutual fund folios and make sure that investors are able to administer their investments effectively.

Criteria for Classifying a Mutual Fund Folio as Inactive

An inactive folio is a mutual fund folio where there have been no investor-sponsored transactions-financial or non-financial-within the previous 10 years, yet there remains a unit balance.

This includes folios on which investors have remained invested in an open-ended scheme and never redeemed their units, either inadvertently or because they lost track of their investment. But there is no effect on folios where the unitholder is aware of the investment and has chosen to remain invested.

The platform will assist investors in tracing lost mutual fund investments, ensuring their KYC information is updated as per existing regulations.

• MITRA platform will be jointly hosted by the two QRTAs, viz. Computer Age Management Services Limited (CAMS) and KFIN Technologies Limited as agents of AMCs. It will be accessible from a link on the websites of MF Central, AMCs, AMFI, the two QRTAs and SEBI.

• Also, the platform will follow the cybersecurity and cyber resilience framework for QRTAs as defined in SEBI's Master Circular on Mutual Funds dated June 27, 2024.

How MITRA Helps Investors Track Unclaimed Investments

MITRA is intended to be an easy-to-use platform through which investors can find their missing, inactive, or unclaimed MF folios and initiate the process of recovering them. This is how MITRA assists:

1. Consolidated Search Across AMCs

MITRA enables investors to search for their mutual fund investments in various AMCs by providing their PAN, Aadhaar, or registered mobile number.

2. Simple Identification of Inactive or Unclaimed Folios

The platform detects folios wherein transactions have not been made for a long time and labels them as unclaimed or inactive.

3. Claiming Process Made Easy

MITRA offers easy-to-follow instructions regarding how to claim unclaimed mutual fund units, facilitating investors in submitting required documents with ease.

4. Legal Heirs Can Trace Investments

In the event of the investor's death, the legal heirs can trace investments using MITRA and file claims.

5. Interoperability with RTAs

MITRA also works in tandem with Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs) like CAMS and KFintech so that fund house records are comprehensive.

How Unclaimed Mutual Fund Folios Could Disrupt Your Financial Planning

Unclaimed mutual fund accounts can make a big difference in an investor's financial planning, derailing long-term wealth-building and financial objectives. When investments go untracked, investors may lose out on possible growth, dividends, or interest accruals, ultimately impacting their net worth.

Moreover, unclaimed funds may cause liquidity problems since investors may ignore assets that could otherwise be used for important financial requirements such as retirement, children's education, or unexpected expenses. In the absence of proper monitoring, these funds do not get to work towards an investor's overall financial plan.

Aside from individual penalties, unclaimed folios also pose legal and procedural complexities, particularly in case of the demise of the investor. If their family members or legal heirs have no knowledge about these investments, it becomes a time-consuming endeavour with paperwork, identification proof, and legal procedures to claim them later.

Such postponement not only brings financial stress but can further result in prospective conflicts between successors. To minimize such delays, it is paramount to periodically cross-check investments, maintain nominee details current, and utilize tracking techniques such as MITRA to be able to claim every rupee invested and adhere to one's financial goals.

By enhancing transparency and investor engagement, the platform MITRA encourages proactive portfolio management, reducing the chances of investments being forgotten or unclaimed.

As more investors adopt MITRA, the mutual fund industry will witness fewer inactive folios, improved efficiency, and better financial discipline, ensuring that every rupee invested continues to contribute to long-term wealth creation.

MITRA Platform: Expected Launch and Operational Timeline

MITRA is expected to become operational soon, with regulatory approvals and technical integrations currently underway. The platform is being developed in collaboration with AMCs and industry stakeholders to ensure seamless access to mutual fund folio data.

SEBI expects that QRTAs shall make the MITRA platform operational within 15 working days of the issuance of this circular. The initial phase will likely focus on investor registration and data verification before full-scale implementation.

Once fully launched, investors will be able to use MITRA to track, consolidate, and reclaim their investments efficiently. The official rollout date is anticipated to be announced shortly.

To Conclude...

MITRA is set to be a game-changer in addressing the issue of inactive and unclaimed mutual fund folios by providing investors with a seamless way to track and reclaim their investments. With its upcoming launch, investors should leverage this platform to safeguard their investments and ensure every rupee of their hard-earned money contributes to their long-term financial goals.

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MITALI DHOKE is a Research Analyst at PersonalFN. She is an MBA (Finance) and a post-graduate in commerce (M. Com). She focuses primarily on covering articles around mutual funds including NFOs, financial planning and fixed-income products. Mitali holds an overall experience of 4 years in the financial services industry.
She also actively contributes towards content creation for PersonalFN’s social media platforms in the endeavour to educate investors and enhance their financial knowledge.
 

Disclaimer: Investment in securities market are subject to market risks, read all the related documents carefully before investing.
This article is for information purposes only and is not meant to influence your investment decisions. It should not be treated as a mutual fund recommendation or advice to make an investment decision in the above-mentioned schemes.