Recovery of Unclaimed Investment of TCS from IEPF Can Make You Rich!

Tata Consultancy Service Ltd. (TCS) is an IT sector market leader in India and is one of the largest IT MNCs in the world. The company specialises in IT outsourcing and consultancy services and has a repute for giving the best solutions to any client. It has handled many projects from the government and private sector since its inception. The exponential growth of the company in the last two decades was evident when it crossed the benchmark of 100-Billion Dollars in market capitalization in 2018. The company was the first in the Indian IT sector to cross this milestone and the second overall in the Indian market.

During the tough times of the COVID pandemic incited lockdown, the company never failed to impress even while working from home. The numbers kept on increasing and in March 2020, it beat Reliance to become India’s most valued company with a market capitalization valuing Rs. 6959.73 crores. In September 2020, TCS became the first IT company and the second Indian firm after Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to reach Rs. market capitalization of 9 trillion. In the following month, it became the world’s most valuable IT firm beating Accenture.

Growth in shares of TCS

The growth potential of the company is indicated by the following calculation regarding shares brought by a TCS investor in 2004 and its value in 2021. 

• Suppose you bought 500 stocks of TCS in September 2004 with a value of Rs. 123.95 per share. Total amount invested = 61975
• In 2006, TCS issued bonus shares in the ratio 1:1.

This meant for one share owned by the investor, TCS gave 1 bonus share. So, the net number of shares for the investor became 1000. 

• In 2009, the company again issued the bonus shares in the ratio 1:1. Taking the total number to 2000.
• In 2018, the company issued its most recent bonus shares in the ratio 1:1 taking the total number of shares for the company to 4000.
• Now, the price of a single TCS share, as of January 2020, is Rs. 3,111.35. Thus, the total value of shares as of January 2021 became,

Rs. 3111.35 x 4,000 shares = Rs. 1,24,45,400 (One Crore Twenty Four Lakhs Forty-Five Thousand Four Hundred)

So, we can see that just Rs. 61 thousand invested in TCS in 2004 would have grown to more than a crore rupees in January 2021.  And this price is only the share growth. It doesn’t constitute the dividends paid by TCS on the stocks. If we add the amount for dividend then the returns will be even bigger. Hence, we recommend that if you have any old share of TCS lying dormant with IEPF then you must make claims for it as its value by today’s terms would be huge.

Source: https://www.tcs.com/dividend-payment-details

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tata-consultancy-services-ltd/infocompanybonus/companyid-8345.cms 

https://in.investing.com/equities/tata-consultancy-services-historical-data?interval_sec=monthly 

Dividend Shared by TCS Since 2004

The following table will give detailed information on dividends released by TCS in the last decade.

Data of Unclaimed Dividend & Shares of TCS

The following tables have been extracted from the data released by TCS in the form of Annual Reports. From the following tables, we can easily understand the number of dividends passed by TCS to IEPF and the dividends transferred to its unclaimed dividend account.

• Unclaimed Stock Transferred to the IEPF

The following unpaid dividend and shares have been transferred to IEPF by TCS according to its financial reports.

Source: https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/investor-relations/financial-statements/2019-20/ar/annual-report-2019-2020.pdf

Data of TCS Stocks to be transferred to the IEPF

The following tables give the year wise release date of dividends with the last date to claim it from the company before it gets transferred to the IEPF fund.

After the mentioned due dates are given after a gap of 7 years, TCS will transfer the dividends with shares to IEPF.  

• An investor can check the status of their dividends and invested money declared by TCS, from https://www.tcs.com/unclaimed-dividend-details-from-february-10-2014-to-january-31-2020
• For more information regarding TCS, visit: https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/investor-relations/financial-statements/2019-20/ar/annual-report-2019-2020.pdf

Understanding Investor Education and Protection Fund

IEPF was formed by the Indian government to educate investors about the consequences of unclaimed dividends. It is also a medium for investors to claim their long-lost invested money. Earlier the dormant shares or associated money used to lie with companies for years without no one to claim them. there was no provision for companies on how long they can hold these unclaimed stocks. Some companies used to transfer the money to public welfare funds of government but there was no timeline for the said transfer. IEPF streamlined this process and set a timeline of 7 years for companies after which they must transfer unclaimed stocks and dividends to this fund, from where investors after any number of years can claim their money.

Procedure to Claim Ole TCS Shares from IEPF Authority

1: Contact TSR Darashaw Ltd.

The company has appointed TSR Darashaw Ltd. as its Transfer Agent which will give complete information on the status of invested money of the shareholder. If the dividends are transferred to IEPF then the investor can move on to the following steps.

2: Download IEPF 5 Form

The shareholder must visit the following application link of IEPF http://www.iepf.gov.in/IEPF/refund.html, and follow the instruction to make an online application.

3: Physical Application

After application submission, the investor must send the filled form with all the necessary documents for proving ownership of shares to the TCS authority.

4: Verification by TCS

The nodal officer of TCS will verify the documents and form for ownership from the company’s documents and then send the verification report to the IEPF Authority.

5: Comment by the IEPF Authority

The IEPF Authority will make the decision to pass the claim based on the verification report, documents, and application form. Based on that IEPF authority can either,

• Approve the claim and initiate the refund.
• Ask the claimant to resubmit some or all documents if there is some discrepancy.
• Reject the claim form.

6: What to do next?

• If the authority asks the claimant to submit any additional documents, then he must share the documents with the Nodal officer of TCS in his office from where the officer will send the documents to the authority.
• In case the claim is rejected, the claimant will have to repeat the whole process by making a fresh claim.

Visit the following website for more info: https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/pdf/discover-tcs/investor-relations/faq/steps-to-claim-dividend-shares-iepf.pdf

Why do You Need Legal Help?

As mentioned in the above sections, filing a claim to the IEPF requires filing an error-free form with all the necessary documents that could be asked by the company. Thus, a claimant should avoid the hassle by appointing a legal consultancy firm to fill the form on his behalf and do the remaining liaising work with the Nodal officer and IEPF regarding any documents or any discrepancy. The legal consultancy firm will make the job easy and the claimant won’t have to worry about their form being rejected due to an error in filing. The legal firm can also help the claimant in proving their ownership in case they inherit the shares from any elderly who has not mentioned the shares in their will.