Since 1 November 2025 you can name up to four nominees on a bank deposit instead of one. The Ministry of Finance announced on 23 October 2025 that sections 10 to 13 of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 would take effect that day, and the Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025, notified on 27 October 2025 as G.S.R. 790(E), set out the form and the procedure.
The number is the easy part. The real decision on the new form is a choice between two columns, and only one of them can be filled: a percentage for each nominee (simultaneous nomination) or an order of priority (successive nomination). They behave very differently when something goes wrong, which is what this piece works through.
Simultaneous or successive: what the rules allow
| Simultaneous | Successive | |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit accounts (savings, current, FD, RD) | Allowed | Allowed |
| Bank lockers | Not allowed | Allowed |
| Articles kept in safe custody | Not allowed | Allowed |
| Maximum nominees | Four | Four |
| What you write on the form | A percentage for each, totalling 100% | First, second, third, fourth |
| Who gets paid | All living nominees, each their share | Only the highest-ranked living nominee, 100% |
| If one nominee has died before the claim | That person’s share is settled as if no nomination existed | The next nominee in line steps up |
The first six rows come from the Rules and the notes printed on the prescribed form. The last row comes from the Reserve Bank of India (Nomination Facility in Deposit Accounts, Safe Deposit Lockers and Articles kept in Safe Custody with the Banks) Directions, 2025, dated 28 October 2025, which tell banks that where a simultaneous nominee dies before receiving the deposit, “the nomination in respect of such nominee alone shall become ineffective” and that share is settled under the rules for accounts without a nominee.
A worked example: the same deposit, both ways
Take a depositor with ₹12 lakh, including interest, in a savings account and a fixed deposit at a commercial bank. He names his wife, son, daughter and mother. His son dies before him, and nobody updates the form.
| Simultaneous nomination | Successive nomination | |
|---|---|---|
| Form says | Wife 40%, son 30%, daughter 20%, mother 10% | Wife 1st, son 2nd, daughter 3rd, mother 4th |
| Wife receives | ₹4,80,000 | ₹12,00,000 |
| Daughter receives | ₹2,40,000 | Nothing (wife is alive) |
| Mother receives | ₹1,20,000 | Nothing (wife is alive) |
| Son’s ₹3,60,000 | Paid to legal heirs through the no-nominee claim route | Not affected: the son was never first in line |
| Documents for the nominated amounts | Claim form, death certificate, ID and address proof | Claim form, death certificate, ID and address proof |
The simultaneous column splits the money the way the depositor wanted, but the son’s 30% drops out of the nomination entirely. The bank then follows the Reserve Bank of India (Settlement of Claims in respect of Deceased Customers of Banks) Directions, 2025, dated 26 September 2025. Because ₹3.6 lakh is below the ₹15 lakh threshold those directions set for banks other than co-operative banks (₹5 lakh for a co-operative bank), the family can use the simplified procedure, provided there is no will and no contesting claim. That still means a claim form signed by the claimants, a legal heir certificate or an independent person’s declaration, a bond of indemnity, and no-objection letters from heirs who are not claiming. Above the threshold, the bank can ask for a succession certificate.
The successive column is simpler to settle but blunter. One person receives everything, and the others get nothing unless everyone above them has died.
Getting a nominee is not the same as inheriting
The claim settlement directions require the bank to tell nominees in writing that they receive the money “as a trustee of the legal heirs” of the deceased, and that the payment does not affect anyone else’s claim against them. A nomination gets money out of the bank quickly. It does not decide who finally owns it, which is a matter for the depositor’s will or the succession law that applies.
In return, the bank must pay a nominee without asking for a succession certificate, probate or an indemnity bond, whatever the amount. The same directions give banks 15 calendar days from the receipt of all documents to settle a deposit claim, and where the delay is the bank’s fault, compensation as interest at no less than the Bank Rate plus 4% a year. For lockers, the bank must fix a date for the inventory within 15 days or pay ₹5,000 a day. If a bank ignores these timelines, the RBI Ombudsman route applies.
Rules that catch people out
- One new form cancels the old one. Rule 2(9) says every subsequent nomination cancels or varies the previous one. There is no “add a nominee” form: you file the full list again.
- Joint accounts need every signature. Under rule 2(11), a change is not valid unless all depositors make it, and the claim directions say a nominee’s right arises only after all the joint holders have died.
- More than four names? Rule 2(16) says the bank recognises the first four in the order written.
- FD renewals keep the nomination. Rule 2(14) says renewing a deposit does not end it. A nomination on one account can be extended to your other accounts at the same bank on request (rule 2(15)).
- Minor nominees need a receiver. Under rule 2(6) you can appoint an adult to receive the money on the minor’s behalf.
- E-nomination is allowed where the bank offers it. Through net banking or a mobile app, rule 2(4) requires at least two-factor authentication, and the bank must alert you to every nomination made.
- Existing nominations were not wiped out. The 2025 Rules replace the 1985 Rules except for things already done under them, so a single nominee registered earlier stays on record until you file a new form.
The RBI’s nomination directions also require banks to acknowledge a nomination, cancellation or change within three working days, give written reasons within three working days if they reject it, and print “Nomination Registered” with the nominees’ names on the passbook, statement and FD receipt. A bank cannot refuse or delay opening an account because you decline to nominate, though it will ask you to sign a declaration saying so. SBI’s nomination page is one example of a bank publishing the new options.
If your deposits are large enough to sit across several banks, nominations are filed bank by bank; how much of each balance is insured if a bank fails is a separate question, covered in our guide to DICGC deposit insurance.
