Part of our guide to IEPF claims and Form IEPF-5
A rejected IEPF claim is rarely the end of the matter. The shares are still yours. Claims are almost never refused because the claimant isn't entitled; they are sent back because something in the paperwork did not match what the company has on record.
Here are the reasons we see most often, and what fixes each one.
How an IEPF claim is checked
An IEPF claim has two halves. You file Form IEPF-5 online on the MCA portal and receive an SRN, a service request number. You then send the signed form, an indemnity bond and supporting documents to the company's Nodal Officer. The company verifies the claim against its own records and reports to the IEPF Authority, which approves or rejects it.
Most problems surface at the company's verification stage, because that is where your documents are compared with a shareholder register that may be decades old.
The most common reasons
The name doesn't match
The certificate says “R. K. Sharma”, the PAN says “Rajesh Kumar Sharma”, and the bank account uses a third spelling. The company cannot assume these are the same person.
The fix is an affidavit confirming the variations belong to one person, supported by identity documents. Where a name was formally changed, include the gazette notification.
The signature doesn't match the company's records
Companies compare your signature today with the specimen recorded when the shares were bought. Signatures change over forty years.
The fix is Form ISR-2, on which your bank branch attests your current signature. Sending it with the claim heads off this rejection before it happens.
The demat account details are wrong
Shares from IEPF are credited to a demat account, so the details must be exact. A common mistake is entering only part of the account number. The revised Form IEPF-5 introduced in October 2025 added a depository field to reduce this error.
The fix is to copy the details from your Client Master List, which your depository participant can provide, and to make sure the account is in the claimant's own name.
The documents never reached the company
Filing online is only half the claim. If the signed form, indemnity bond and supporting papers do not reach the company's Nodal Officer, the company has nothing to verify.
The fix is to send the complete set by trackable post or courier, keep the receipt, and quote your SRN on the covering letter.
The claimant is a legal heir, but the heirship papers are incomplete
When the original shareholder has died, the company needs to see who is entitled. A death certificate alone is not enough.
The fix is the set of transmission documents that matches the value of the holding: an affidavit-cum-NOC and indemnity for smaller holdings, or a legal heirship certificate, will or succession certificate for larger ones. SEBI raised these value limits in 2026, and our guide to transmission without a succession certificate explains them.
KYC isn't updated on the folio
For physical holdings, companies expect PAN, address, bank details and a nomination choice to be registered on the folio.
The fix is Form ISR-1 for PAN, bank and contact details, and Form ISR-2 for your bank's confirmation of your signature, submitted with current proofs. See our ISR forms guide.
Finding out why your claim was rejected
Log in to the MCA portal and look up the status of your SRN. Where a claim is rejected or returned, the remarks usually say what was missing or did not match. Read them closely before refiling: correcting only part of the problem leads to a second rejection.
Refiling the claim
Once the gap is fixed, file a fresh Form IEPF-5 and send the corrected documents to the company again. Refer to the earlier SRN in your covering letter so the company can connect the two.
Every refiling restarts the company's verification, so it is worth making the set complete the second time.
When it's worth getting help
You can file Form IEPF-5 yourself on the MCA portal free of charge. If a claim has been rejected more than once, or involves a deceased shareholder, a name change, or shares spread across several companies, it helps to have someone read the company's records and prepare documents that match them.
We take on rejected and stuck claims with no advance professional fee; our fee is charged after the shares are credited. Stamp duty, notary charges and certificate fees are paid by you at actuals. Start with our IEPF Form 5 claim process page, or call +91-92666-64409.
Free IEPF claim review
Send us the shareholder's name and the company. We check the IEPF records and tell you what can be claimed, at no charge for the assessment.