NRIs get relief as SEBI allows re-KYC without being present in India

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday announced a significant relaxation in the re-KYC process for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), removing the earlier requirement that they must be physically present in India while undergoing digital verification.

This move is expected to greatly simplify and speed up the re-KYC experience for millions of NRIs who maintain investment accounts in India but reside abroad.

According to Sebi, the decision was taken after receiving suggestions and concerns from various stakeholders who highlighted the practical challenges faced by NRIs in complying with the earlier rule. Many pointed out that requiring the client to be located within India during digital verification was inconvenient and, in some cases, impossible, especially for those who travel infrequently or live overseas long-term. To address this, Sebi has amended the existing framework to make re-KYC more accessible and user-friendly.

Re-KYC (Re-Know Your Customer)

Re-KYC (Re-Know Your Customer) is a periodic process through which investors update or reconfirm their personal and financial details with intermediaries such as brokers, mutual fund houses, and other financial institutions. It ensures that records remain accurate and compliant with regulatory norms.

Under the revised guidelines, NRIs who are already registered as clients can now complete their re-KYC digitally from outside India. However, Sebi has retained strong security requirements to ensure authenticity.

The circular requires the app to have “features of random action initiation for client response to establish that the interactions are not pre-recorded along with time stamping and geo-location tagging.” Moreover, the app must verify that “the GPS location (latitude and longitude) captured … matches with the latitude and longitude of the country given in Proof of Address of the client,” and must block any connections using spoofed IP addresses.

Any attempt to mask the location using spoofed or manipulated IP addresses must be automatically blocked.

While initial digital onboarding of new NRI clients still requires them to be physically located in India.