Summary of this article
NRIs, OCIs and eligible foreign nationals can complete digital KYC remotely
Existing KYC records can be reused across financial intermediaries
New rules take effect from December 3, 2026
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has relaxed Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and foreign nationals, allowing eligible overseas investors to complete the onboarding process digitally without travelling to India.
In a circular dated November 4, 2026, the market regulator removed the requirement for individual Persons Resident Outside India (PROIs) to be physically present in India during digital KYC, provided they reside in countries compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The revised provisions will come into effect from December 3, 2026.
Under the earlier rules, intermediaries such as stockbrokers and depositories had to ensure that clients were physically present in India while completing digital KYC. This made it difficult for overseas investors to open trading and demat accounts remotely.
The relaxation is expected to reduce the procedural hurdles faced by overseas individuals looking to invest in Indian equities and other securities through registered market intermediaries.
KYC Records To Become Portable
Sebi has also eased the process of reusing existing KYC records, reducing the need for investors to submit the same documents repeatedly when opening accounts with different financial intermediaries.
Under the revised framework, KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) will mark individual details in a client's KYC record as 'validated' if they have been verified against official or source databases. However, an entire KYC record can be shared with another intermediary even if some individual details have not been validated.
KRAs are agencies that maintain and facilitate the sharing of investors' KYC records across financial intermediaries.
Intermediaries can also rely on KYC verification carried out by another Sebi-registered intermediary or an entity regulated by another financial sector regulator, using records obtained from a KRA or the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCRR).
The CKYCRR is a centralised repository of KYC records that allows regulated financial institutions to retrieve customer information instead of collecting the same documents afresh.
However, the responsibility for ensuring KYC compliance will continue to rest with the intermediary onboarding the investor. It must also undertake enhanced due diligence, or additional verification checks, depending on the client's risk profile.
What Documents Will Overseas Investors Need
The revised rules allow intermediaries to retrieve an investor's existing KYC details using their Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Central KYC ID, wherever available. Additional information will be required only if existing records are incomplete, outdated, inconsistent with regulatory requirements or require further verification.
For PAN verification, intermediaries must check the details against the Income Tax database. They cannot insist on the investor producing the original PAN card or submitting a copy.
Investors will, however, have to provide a copy of their passport and, wherever applicable, their OCI card. Intermediaries must verify the passport wherever feasible.
KYC forms can be submitted physically or digitally through an app, website or other digital mode. Investors can submit an original physical form, a scanned copy of a physical form with an electronic signature or a digitally completed KYC form with an electronic signature.
For proof of identity and address, intermediaries are required to collect any one of the specified officially valid documents or deemed officially valid documents. Sebi has also clarified that the current address of an individual PROI client must be their overseas address.
In cases where a foreign national's officially valid documents do not contain address details, intermediaries can accept a document issued by a government department in the foreign country or a letter from a foreign embassy or mission in India as proof of address.
Video Verification To Have Additional Safeguards
Sebi has retained the requirement for In-Person Verification (IPV), but allowed intermediaries to use Video In-Person Verification (VIPV) when physical verification is not feasible.
The regulator has prescribed safeguards to ensure that the video verification is genuine and that the person completing the process is the actual investor.
These include recording the client's consent, capturing live GPS coordinates and timestamps, preventing connections through spoofed IP addresses, virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxy servers, and matching the investor's live photograph with the photograph submitted in KYC documents.
The video verification system must also use end-to-end encryption and technology to detect attempts to impersonate an individual through manipulated video or other spoofing methods. An authorised official of the intermediary must be present during the process, which will also be subject to concurrent audit.
Concurrent audit refers to checks carried out alongside the process to ensure that verification procedures have been followed and the outcome is reliable.
Intermediaries must submit the KYC information of individual PROI clients to the relevant KRA within three working days of completing the verification process.
The circular also specifies that all documents submitted by overseas clients must be in English. Documents in other languages will have to be translated into English and attested by a certifying authority before submission.
The revised framework will also apply to re-KYC, or periodic updating of existing customer details, for clients residing in FATF-compliant countries.
However, the existing KYC requirements will continue to apply to investors residing in FATF non-compliant countries. Foreign nationals seeking registration as Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) will also continue to be governed by the separate regulatory framework applicable to FPIs.
