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SEBI Proposes Digital KYC for NRIs, OCIs Without India Presence
SEBI's proposal would let NRIs and OCIs complete KYC digitally from abroad, removing the need to be physically present in India. The change could boost overseas investment flows.
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The Securities and Exchange Board of India proposed a rule change that would let individual overseas investors complete KYC digitally from abroad, removing the requirement to be physically present in the country.
Under the proposal, eligible Non-Resident Indians, Overseas Citizens of India and foreign nationals based in Financial Action Task Force-compliant countries could submit KYC records and related documents while remaining overseas. The current framework forces digital onboarding to happen inside India, a hurdle that SEBI said has drawn repeated stakeholder complaints.
The change targets what the regulator called a growing pool of investment from Persons Resident Outside India. SEBI argued that smoother onboarding could make it easier for the Indian diaspora to invest back home and help channel overseas savings into Indian capital markets.
SEBI did not scrap KYC checks. The proposal adds safeguards: a liveness check, verification in the presence of an authorised representative, and a live capture of the investor's latitude and longitude. The location captured during onboarding must match the country on the investor's proof of address. Intermediaries would also have to block connections from spoofed IP addresses.