Dividend Warrant Not Received: Reissue It or Claim It Back from IEPF

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

A declared dividend has not reached you. Either the warrant or cheque was never delivered, or it lapsed before you could bank it. The fix depends on how old the dividend is. Take these first actions in order.

1. Confirm the dividend was actually declared and paid. Check the company's results announcement and your registered bank or demat account for the credit date.
2. Write to the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA), not the company first. The RTA, such as KFin Technologies or Link Intime, holds the dividend and shareholder records. Ask for a duplicate warrant or a fresh electronic credit.
3. Fix the root cause. Most non-receipts are stale bank details, an old address, or an unclaimed warrant. Update your bank mandate, IFSC and address with the RTA or depository participant.
4. If the dividend is unclaimed for seven years, it has moved to the IEPF. You then claim it back from the Investor Education and Protection Fund using Form IEPF-5, not from the company.

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

This guide turns on one date you must find: the year the dividend was declared. Anything unclaimed for seven straight years leaves the company and goes to the IEPF, and the route changes completely.

There are three possible places, and each has its own remedy.

If you are not sure of the year, the company's annual report or the RTA can tell you the date of transfer to the Unpaid Dividend Account and the due date for transfer to IEPF.

Anil in Nagpur held 200 shares of a listed company in physical form. The company declared a dividend of ₹6 per share in 2017, so ₹1,200 was due. The warrant went to his old Pune address and was never banked. He noticed it only in 2026 while sorting old papers.

Because seven years had passed, the ₹1,200 and his 200 shares had already moved to the IEPF. Writing to the company would not have helped. Anil filed Form IEPF-5 online, sent the physical documents to the company's Nodal Officer, and tracked the claim through the company and the IEPF Authority. Had he acted in 2022, a simple duplicate warrant from the RTA would have settled it.

Most lapses are avoidable. Before or alongside the reissue request, fix these.

• Bank mandate. Give the RTA or your depository participant your current account number, IFSC and a cancelled cheque so future dividends come by NEFT.
• Address. Update your registered address for physical warrants and correspondence.
• Demat vs physical. If you still hold physical shares, consider dematerialising them. Dividends on demat holdings credit straight to your linked bank account and rarely go astray.
• Email and mobile. Keep these current so you get the dividend intimation and any IEPF notice.

• Your folio number (physical) or demat client ID and DP ID.
• Proof of holding: share certificate details or the demat statement showing the shares on the record date.
• PAN and one address proof, with unneeded digits masked in any public copy.
• A cancelled cheque of your current bank account for the mandate.
• The dividend details: financial year, rate per share and amount, if known.
• For an IEPF claim, the original share certificate (physical) and an indemnity, as the portal lists.

1. Identify the RTA. It is named on the company's investor page and in the annual report. The RTA, not the company secretary, processes warrant reissues.
2. Send a written request. Ask for a duplicate dividend warrant or a fresh electronic credit, quoting your folio or demat details and the dividend year.
3. Attach the bank mandate. Give the current account details so the re-credit does not fail again.
4. Get an acknowledgement. Note the service-request number and a reasonable date to follow up.
5. If the RTA does not act, raise it on SEBI SCORES. The investor grievance portal at scores.sebi.gov.in covers RTAs and listed companies. Lodge the complaint with your earlier request attached.

1. Confirm the transfer. Check the company's list of amounts transferred to IEPF, or ask the RTA for the transfer date.
2. File Form IEPF-5 online. Submit the e-form on the IEPF portal at iepf.gov.in with your shareholding and bank details.
3. Send the documents to the company's Nodal Officer. Print the form, attach the indemnity, the original certificate for physical shares and the listed proofs, and post them to the company's IEPF Nodal Officer.
4. Company verifies and recommends. The company checks your claim and sends a verification report to the IEPF Authority.
5. IEPF Authority releases the refund. On approval, the dividend is paid to your bank account and shares, if any, are transferred back to your demat account. Track the status on the portal.

The IEPF Authority is a statutory body under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, so it is a public authority under RTI. If your IEPF-5 claim is stuck without reasons, you can file an RTI to the IEPF Authority for the status of your claim, the date the company's verification report was received, and any objection raised. This often unblocks a silent file.

RTI does not reach a private listed company or a private RTA, as they are not public authorities. For those, use the RTA's grievance route and SEBI SCORES. RTI gives you records held on the government side; it does not order a company to pay.

To: The Registrar and Transfer Agent, [RTA name]
[Company name] dividend
Subject: Dividend not received, request to reissue / re-credit

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hold shares of [company name] under Folio No. / DP ID and Client ID
[number]. The dividend of Rs. [amount] declared for the financial year
[year] has not been received by me.

I request you to:
1. Reissue the dividend warrant, or credit the dividend electronically
   to the bank account in my updated mandate.
2. Update my bank details and address as per the enclosed cancelled
   cheque and proof, so future dividends are credited correctly.
3. Confirm whether this dividend is lying in the Unpaid Dividend
   Account or has been transferred to the IEPF, with the relevant date.

PAN: [PAN] | Mobile/email: [contact]
Enclosures: cancelled cheque, address proof, holding proof.

Yours faithfully,
[Your name] | [Date]

• Writing to the company secretary for a warrant reissue. The RTA holds the records and does the reissue.
• Missing the seven-year line. Once the dividend goes to IEPF, only Form IEPF-5 works. A duplicate warrant request will be refused.
• Not updating the bank mandate. A reissue to an old or closed account fails again.
• Paying an agent to “recover IEPF money”. The IEPF claim is free and you can file it yourself on iepf.gov.in.
• Forgetting the shares. When a dividend is unclaimed for seven years, the underlying shares often move to IEPF too, and your IEPF-5 claims both.

• Investor Education and Protection Fund (Form IEPF-5)
• SEBI SCORES investor grievance portal
• Securities and Exchange Board of India
• File an RTI online (IEPF Authority)

• Demat account closure delayed
• Dormant bank account balance not traceable
• Duplicate bank account opened in your name
• Practical Guides hub
• How to file an RTI online

It is still with the company in its Unpaid Dividend Account, because seven years have not passed. Write to the company's RTA for a duplicate warrant or a fresh electronic credit, attach your current bank mandate, and quote the dividend year and your folio or demat details. If the RTA does not act, raise a complaint on SEBI SCORES.

When it stays unclaimed for seven consecutive years from the date it became due. After that, the company transfers it, and often the related shares, to the IEPF. You then claim it back with Form IEPF-5 on iepf.gov.in, not from the company.

File Form IEPF-5 online, then post the printed form with the indemnity and supporting documents to the company's IEPF Nodal Officer. The company verifies and reports to the IEPF Authority, which releases the dividend to your bank account and returns any shares to your demat account.

For a recent unclaimed dividend, go to the RTA, which holds the records and reissues warrants. For an IEPF claim, the form goes through the company's Nodal Officer to the IEPF Authority. The company secretary alone cannot reissue a warrant.

Only the IEPF side is under RTI, because the IEPF Authority is a public authority. You can RTI it for the status of a stuck IEPF-5 claim. A private company or private RTA is outside RTI, so use the RTA grievance route and SEBI SCORES for those.

No official fee is charged to claim your own money back through Form IEPF-5. Be wary of agents who promise quick IEPF recovery for a fee, as the process is free on the official portal.

If the dividend was unclaimed for seven years, the underlying shares are usually transferred to the IEPF as well. Your single Form IEPF-5 claim covers both the dividend and the shares, which are returned to your demat account on approval.

Download the dividend-not-received and IEPF-5 claim checklist (PDF) and confirm the dividend year before you choose your route.