Recovery of Unclaimed Dividends and Lost Shares of Ultratech Cement from IEPF

Shares of Ultratech Cement were floating at a price of more than Rs. 6123 per share in the market as of 02 Feb 2021. How would you feel if you suddenly come to know that you own some shares of Ultratech? Amazing, right? Even a small number of 16 shares will fetch you an amount equivalent to almost ₹ 1 lakh.

Excited to know, how? Here, We are going to discuss how you could earn a fortune if you just came to know that there exist old shares of UltraTech Cement in your name. If you have long-forgotten shares of UltraTech Cement which remained dormant for years in the IEPF Account, then read this blog to find out how to lay a claim on them.

History of the Ultratech Cement Ltd.

UltraTech Cement Limited has been engaged in the business activities of cement manufacturing and producing cement-related products. The Company handles the manufacturing of a range of products and caters to constructional needs from foundation to finish. The products include Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement (PSC), ready mix concrete, white cement and white cement-based products, specialty concrete. It also manufactures building products like aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) blocks with joining mortars and a host of other products. Its geographical segments (Area of Operation) include India and the Rest of the World. The Corporate focuses on a variety of areas of environmental concerns such as alternative fuels, carbon dioxide emission reduction, waste heat recovery systems, waste management, water recycling and biodiversity management. It has over 10 integrated cement units, a white cement unit, approximately 10 grinding units, a wall care putty unit, 5+ bulk terminals, and more than 100 ready mix concrete units.

It has continued to generate profits in the past one and half decades due to which its share price kept on increasing. During the pandemic itself, the stock price has dropped a little but it has picked by huge margins after the lockdown due to increased demands. the company’s net income in the last financial year as declared in March 2020 was Rs. 40649.19 Crores with an added income from other sources amounting to Rs. 726.58 Crores. Even after managing the amount for deductions such as total expenses of Rs. 31996.87 Crores, the company still managed an operating profit of Rs. 8652.38 Cr.

UltraTech Cement is known for giving its shareholders generous dividends. To date, the company has given a total of 17 dividends to its investors. And in 2020 alone, the company has declared a dividend of 130 % per share.

If you have 600 shares of UltraTech Cement registered under your name in 2004, then the value of those shares as of today would have been in crores. The dividend amount alone would have been in lakhs.

Calculation

• Suppose you have 600 shares of UltraTech Cement Ltd. registered under your name in 2004.
• Now, the price of 1 share of UltraTech Cement, as of September 2004, is Rs. 266. Thus, the value of your shares as of September 20004 was,
• ₹ 266 x 600 shares = ₹ 159600 (One Lakh Fifty-Nine Thousand Six Hundred)
• The above amount is only the price of the shares in 2004. Now the same shares would be valued in current terms as per today’s price.
• The amount of as per price in February 2021 is,   

₹ 6208.5 x 600 shares = ₹ 37, 25, 100 (Thirty-Seven Lakhs Twenty Five Thousand One Hundred).

• The amount is an increase of almost 2234% which is humongous. Now we have not added the amount of dividend received on the investment in all these years. If we calculate the dividends according to the chart mentioned above, then the total value of stocks will skyrocket and may end up reaching near one crore.

As you can see, the shareholders of UltraTech Cement have received a huge amount in terms of dividends and valuation increase over time from the company. From 2004 onwards, the shareholders, have made huge profits.

As you could see, if you had invested in only 600 shares of UltraTech Cement, then you would have become a Crorepati by today. Now, imagine that someone has invested in this company a long time ago and then forgot about the invested amount due to any unavoidable reason. Or someone has inherited some shares of Ultratech from the investment of one of their deceased family member, and only got to know about it today. 

In both scenarios, that person would have got rich instantly by today’s valuation of those shares. But here is the catch! Due to no claim on any dividend on these shares for 7 years straight these shares would have now been transferred to IEPF Authority. In such a scenario, these shares won’t be in your possession anymore because they had been transferred to the IEPF fund of the Govt. However, this does not mean that those shares are no longer available for the owner or the heir of the deceased owner. The only difference is that the Government, on the investor’s behalf, is keeping the shares and corresponding dividend with them till someone raises a claim on that.

Investor Education and Protection Fund – An Overview

The Govt. started this scheme to educate the investors and protect them from losing their rights over the funds and therefore the shares. When the investors won’t ditch their shares, the shares will not be transferred to the Govt IEPF Fund. Since the matter of individuals forgetting about their shareholdings of a company was increasing, the Govt realized that it had been causing a huge loss for the investors. Therefore, the Govt in 2016 decided to line up the IEPF. It gives a one-stop solution to the investors for raising the claim on their long-lost investments. Here, the members can approach the govt and claim their dividends and ask them to refund their long-forgotten shares. This authority was initiated keeping in mind the interests of the shareholders of companies listed in the stock markets of India. IEPF protected the investors’ funds while spreading awareness regarding the same among stock investors.

The Government takes care of the unclaimed dividend and lost shares transferred to the present account on behalf of the rightful shareholders. So, after 7 years, investors can simply claim their dividends or shares from the IEPF fund manager by applying to the managing authority. People can claim their dividends and shares of various companies through one platform rather than getting to each company individually, that’s why IEPF is understood as a one-stop solution.

There are various reasons why an investor tends to ditch its investment during a company:

• No Nominee/Heir to Shares: Usually investors don’t appoint a nominee/ heir to require care of the shares after their death. Therefore, the shares remain unclaimed as the perspective heirs are clueless about their ownership.
• Court Disputes: Shares get attached to the court because proceedings are pending within the courts regarding the property dispute. Hence, the shares remain ownerless till the court’s verdict is granted.
• Small Investments: Generally, the investment is of small amounts thanks to which an investor forgets about the shares.

These are amongst many other reasons why an investor forgets about his/ her investment during a company. thanks to these reasons, the dividends on the shares remain unclaimed for years and therefore the companies find themselves with abundant shares lying with them with no sign of ownership.

Rules related to IEPF

The functioning of IEPF is governed by the norms of the Companies Act, 2013 and the regulation of the act comes under Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016. Once a corporation declares a dividend on the shares, the shareholders get 30 days to apply for the said dividend. After 30 days, if the dividends remain unclaimed by the shareholders, then the corporate being consistent with the above-stated IEPF regulations, is obliged to transfer such dividends to a special account. This special account is opened within the name of the corporate, referred to as ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’ of the Company.

After that, the corporate gets 90 days to publish an inventory of all the shareholders along with their unclaimed dividends on its website. Besides, the corporate can also use the other mode of communication to inform its members about their unclaimed dividends kept with the corporate. If a shareholder wants to retrieve his/her unclaimed dividend from the ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’ of the company, then he/she has got to file an application to the agency of the corporate. Even if a shareholder fails to claim the amount from the corporate for 7 years due to any reason stated above, then the corporate shall transfer such unclaimed dividend to the IEPF Account. If the dividends aren’t claimed for 7 years, then the shares on which such dividend was declared were considered as forgotten/dormant shares. Therefore, they also get transferred within the name of the IEPF.

Dividends and Shares of Ultratech Cement in IEPF

The Annual Reports of a corporate state the present status of the dividends and shares of the corporate which are transferred to the IEPF account. consistent with the Annual Report of Ultratech Cement of 2019-2020, all the unclaimed dividends up to the fiscal year 1995-1996 which remained unpaid and unclaimed with the corporate were transferred to the Central Government’s general revenue account. As mentioned above, before the introduction of the IEPF, the businesses were alleged to transfer the funds to the Central Government.

All the unclaimed dividends, from the fiscal year 1996-1997 to 2012-2013, remaining deserted with the corporate, coupled with the related shares, were transferred to the IEPF account within the name of the Central Government. The unclaimed dividends and shares were transferred to the IEPF Under Section 124, Companies Act, 2013 and Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority Rules, 2016.

Unclaimed dividends declared by the corporate for the fiscal year 2012-2013 were recently transferred to the IEPF consistent with the Annual Report 2019-2020. The deadline to say the dividends for the fiscal year of 2013-2014 is going to be given within the annual financial report of 2020-2021. just in case a shareholder wants to get his/ her dividends, then he/ she will have to approach the corporate Registrar/ agency of the corporate with the specified documents. The shareholders can reach the corporate nodal officer of the company Ms. Swati Patil at Email ID: [email protected]

Dividend transferred to the IEPF by Ultratech

According to the data released by Ultratech Cement in its AGM, It has granted the following dividends on year by year basis to its investors:

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Announcement Date	Effective Date	Dividend Type	Dividend(%)	Remarks
20/05/2020	29/07/2020	Final	130%	Rs.13.0000 per share(130%) Final Dividend
24/04/2019	10/07/2019	Final	115%	Rs.11.5000 per share(115%) Dividend
25/04/2018	10/07/2018	Final	105%	Rs.10.5000 per share(105%) Dividend
25/04/2017	10/07/2017	Final	100%	Rs.10.0000 per share(100%) Dividend
25/04/2016	04/07/2016	Final	95%	Rs.9.5000 per share(95%)  Dividend
27/04/2015	14/08/2015	Final	90%	Rs.9.0000 per share(90%)  Dividend
23/04/2014	24/07/2014	Final	90%	Rs.9.0000 per share(90%) Dividend
22/04/2013	17/07/2013	Final	90%	Rs.9.0000 per share(90%) Dividend
23/04/2012	17/08/2012	Final	80%	Rs.8.00 per share(80%)     Dividend
26/04/2011	25/08/2011	Final	60%
29/04/2010	21/06/2010	Final	60%
21/04/2009	09/07/2009	Final	50%
22/04/2008	09/07/2008	Final	50%	AGM
05/03/2007	15/03/2007	Interim	40%
10/07/2006	14/08/2006	Final	18%
23/04/2005	11/08/2005	Final	8%
14/09/2004	28/09/2004	Final	5%	AGM

 

In the previous fiscal years, Ultratech Cement has transferred huge amounts to IEPF. The shareholding in Ultratech which remained unclaimed has been high in previous years.  The company has given the facility to its investors to check whether their amount has been transferred to the IEPF on its website. The corresponding amount for shares can be calculated by multiplying the no. of shares with their current price.

The corporate features a huge chunk of unclaimed shares within the IEPF. Thus, the shareholders are strongly advised to search their investment history, or the ownership of shares passed on from a deceased loved one and claim their dividends and shares from IEPF.

Unclaimed Dividend & Lost Shares of Ultratech Cement Transferred to IEPF

Now, you would possibly be wondering what happens to the shares and therefore the dividend transferred to the IEPF. does one still retain the proper over the unclaimed dividend and therefore the lost shares?

The short answer to this question is “Yes”. Yes, you are doing retain rights over the dividend and therefore the lost shares, regardless of the very fact that an equivalent has been transferred to the IEPF Account. As mentioned above, earlier it wont to happen that the shareholder loses the rights over the dividend amount and therefore the shares once they were transferred to the govt funds. But with the introduction of IEPF, a shareholder does not lose the right over the dividend amount also on the related shares. He/ she will apply to the fund manager to get the accumulated dividend over the years and therefore the shares get back to the first shareholder or the heirs in case he/she is deceased.

Despite this, Ultratech Cement still encourages its investors/shareholders to claim the dividends on time from the corporate itself, and avoid the transfer of shares to the IEPF Account. the corporate send individual letters, through posts and other modes of communication, to remind their shareholders of their holdings within the company. Ultratech Cement does this to stop its members from the rigorous and tiresome procedure of recovering the dividends/shares from the IEPF Authority. The fund manager follows this rigorous procedure to make sure that the shares get transferred to the particular owner only. When shares remain unclaimed for an extended period, i.e., 7 years or more, they become susceptible to someone fraudulently transferring them to his name. Thus, to avoid such fraudulent transfers, the fund manager makes thorough scrutinization of all the applications before initiating the transfer of the quantity. Due to this thorough verification, the procedure becomes time-consuming and it becomes hard for the members to urge their shares back from IEPF. Therefore, Ultratech Cement recommends its shareholders to take the dividends from the corporate on time as it takes less time and is a simple process. To get the dividends, the shareholders need to apply to the Registrar or the agency of the corporate at the above-mentioned address. However, if your shares are already transferred to the IEPF, then you’ll approach the Nodal Officer, Ms. Swati Patil, or the Deputy Nodal Officer of the corporate, appointed for this regard. To contact the Nodal/ Deputy Nodal Officer of Ultratech Cement, write an email to them on their official id [email protected].

The Necessity of Legal Help for Ultratech Claim?

As stated above, the procedure to apply for the refund of unclaimed dividends or lost shares from the IEPF Authority may be a difficult process requiring legal and financial knowledge. A particular degree of experience is also required in filing the application to the IEPF fund manager. Hiring a legal professional can assist you and save lots of time from this tedious task. Your legal advisor will take care of all the work and related formalities to file the refund application to the IEPF. If there are mistakes in the application, the IEPF authority rejects it, and therefore the claimant has got to repeat the entire procedure. Your advisor will ensure that there are no mistakes in your application so that the authority approves it without objections. From contacting the nodal officer to gathering information for filing the application with the authority, the lawyer will do everything.

Hiring a lawyer could be extremely helpful if your shares are stuck in a complex family dispute. As mentioned, sometimes, the shareholder dies with no nominees for their shares, and he also forgets to place shares in his will. In such a case, all the relatives of the deceased could come to lay their right to the deceased’s property, i.e., Ultratech Cement Shares. Not hiring a legal advisor can cost you a fortune that you simply are entitled to. Why will people leave shares worth crores? These disputes can take an extended period of your time before getting settled. And if you’re without a lawyer, then the opposite party will walk all over you and you might end up with nothing but pennies. A legal professional or a legal firm will represent you in such cases associated with the ownership of the shares. A lawyer with the command of the law can protect you from all the loopholes which could go against you and thus, can get you the perfect settlement.

To Conclude…

Ultratech Cement is one of the largest and diverse construction material manufacturing companies with constant growth. Even this year, when everyone was struggling to cope up with the pandemic, the stock prices of this company managed to retain their value per share during the lockdown. Due to this ever-increasing pace, the price of 1 share of Ultratech Cement is now floating at 6208 Rs. per share. Therefore, it could be the most appropriate time to sell some of these shares to secure a good profit. It might even help in coping with the financial difficulties, if any, that came due to the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic. So, if you just came to know about the existence of such shares in your name, which was left to you by your deceased elderly, then waste no time in claiming them from the IEPF fund manager.

In addition to the shares, one also receives the dividend accumulated over time. We would advise you to check out the links mentioned above and check out the related section of the company’s website to know the status of unclaimed shares. Gather information regarding your dividends accumulated so far, along with your shareholding in the company, and file an application to claim your dividend from Ultratech Cement. You will have to apply to the Nodal Officer of the Company, by contacting them on the email id provided in the previous sections. For further assistance, hire a legal expert ASAP and apply to the IEPF Authority for the refund of the unclaimed dividend and the recovery of the transferred shares.