New Delhi, April 24 -- The Centre may ask state-run banks to settle at least 30-40% of over Rs.78,000 crore of deposits lying unclaimed in their books in 2025-26, said two persons close to the development.

To achieve the target, the central government is likely to ask public sector banks (PSBs) to identify geographical areas with the most unclaimed deposits, set quarterly settlement targets at the branch level, and develop a standard operating procedure (SoP), in addition to implementing new central bank guidelines, said the first of the two persons mentioned above.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, effective 1 April, require banks to display details of unclaimed deposits, along with a public search feature, on their websites....