During the period 1956 to 2005, the share certificates were issued in physical format.

Many investors failed to inform the Companies about change in their address. They also failed to encash the dividend warrants. This has led to Companies transferring the dividend to IEPF after a period of 7 years.

In more recent times (Since 2017), even the shares standing in the names of investors, who have remained untraced or unreachable, have been transferred to the IEPF.

The normal practice for most companies has been to write to the last known address of such shareholders, either directly or through the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA). In a very large majority of the cases, the communication remains undelivered and / or unacknowledged for a variety of reasons. Sending similar communications every year to the same addresses, has understandably borne no fruit.