What would you feel upon discovering a mutual fund statement in your drawer and finding out that there could be some money invested in a company that you don’t even remember anymore? More likely than not, this situation can happen to anyone at one point in their lives due to changing of contact numbers, moving to another location, losing important papers, or forgetting about the investment you made years ago.
Here comes the SEBI MITRA to the rescue. Launched by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), MITRA is an initiative which helps investors to discover the inactive and lost mutual fund folios. This service could be especially useful if you have an old mutual fund investment but you cannot recollect the details regarding the folio and its holder.
The purpose of this article is to inform about SEBI MITRA, how it works, who can use it, how to search for old mutual fund investments, and what to do after identifying the lost investment. If you or your relatives have forgotten mutual fund investments, then this guide might be useful for you.
What is SEBI MITRA?
MITRA, which stands for Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant, is a platform launched within the SEBI guidelines to assist investors in discovering inactive and orphaned mutual fund folios. SEBI had come out with a circular regarding MITRA on February 12, 2025, with the platform being created by mutual fund registrars and transfer agents (RTAs).
In other words, MITRA can be understood as a search engine for orphaned mutual fund folios. The investor may have made investment many years ago, shifted to a new location or changed his/her mobile number, misplaced all documents related to his/her earlier investments, or perhaps he/she may not even know about the investments made by his/her deceased relative.
Why was the MITRA Launched by SEBI?
There have been increasing cases of inactive mutual fund folios which belong to investors that are unable to find them for whatever reason or those which belong to investors who have passed away. Such folios become a target of fraudulent redemption. It is for this reason that SEBI came up with this initiative.
Some of its key purposes are as follows:
- Identify Forgotten Investments: An investor can find mutual fund folios they might have forgotten about.
- Help Legal Heirs: The family of the investor or any other legitimate heir can find mutual fund folios of the deceased investor.
- Decrease Unclaimed Folios: Through re-discovering the mutual fund folios of investors, the number of unclaimed mutual fund folios can be decreased.
- Encourage KYC Compliance: This initiative also helps in encouraging investors to do or update their KYC processes.
- Improve Investor Protection: Discovery of inactive folios can help prevent any kind of fraud associated with such investments.
The key is that MITRA facilitates tracking of an investment but not the process of redemptions or claims. If an investor finds the relevant folio, then the next step is to contact the respective mutual fund / AMC for further details and to make claims. SEBI’s guidelines mention that the MITRA portal shows the name of the fund, but the investor has to contact the respective mutual fund for further information.
At present, the SEBI website describes MITRA as the gateway for unclaimed mutual funds, and its investor support website contains a link to the MITRA portal.
How to Find Your Forgotten Mutual Funds using SEBI MITRA
- Access the MITRA portal
Access to MITRA is possible through MF Central and is also available via links from the web sites of SEBI, AMFI, AMCs, and the two main RTAs CAMS and KFintech.
- Select the right search option
Investors are permitted to search through the database using the details specified by the search criteria laid down for such searches. Depending upon the search method available on the portal, you may search for your inactive or unclaimed mutual funds using your PAN or other permitted identification details.
- Carefully enter your details
Enter the details as per the records maintained by the mutual fund company. This will be very important in cases where older investments may show differences in names, PAN numbers, and other details.
- Review the search results
If you get a result matching your inactive or unclaimed investment, then MITRA can help you locate the mutual fund/AMC with which the investment was made. However, please note that MITRA is essentially a tracing portal and does not directly facilitate the completion of the claim process. As per SEBI guidelines, the investor needs to approach the relevant AMC/RTA for recovery.
- Contact the concerned AMC or RTA
After identifying the fund house, contact its investor service department or the RTA. In case you need to provide your KYC and bank account details before submitting your claim, then do so.
- Provide the necessary documents for the claim
The list of documents can differ according to different situations. For example, a normal investor will provide his KYC and bank account documents while in case of death of the investor, the claimant will have to follow the transmission route.
Conclusion
It is surprising how often investments can go unnoticed, as simple things like changing an address and a phone number can result in a considerable portion of one’s savings remaining untouched for years. Fortunately, the above information provides a convenient way of dealing with such situations.
In summary, one should obtain their PAN card and personal data, use an official entrance to access the platform, confirm their identity by means of an OTP, carry out a search, and then deal with a particular fund company or RTA. If one assists the bereaved, one should be ready to wait and have all necessary documents at hand. Once the lost investments are found, one should update their KYC, add nominees and monitor CAS so that it does not get lost again.
The knowledge about the process of finding lost mutual fund investments via the MITRA Platform created by SEBI will allow one to make the hidden money visible and usable.
