The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finalized revised Know Your Client (KYC) rules allowing individuals resident outside India to complete digital onboarding from Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliant countries without being physically present in India. Effective Dec. 3, 2026, the framework covers nonresident Indians, Overseas Citizens of India and foreign nationals, and also applies to repeat KYC in FATF compliant countries. The changes follow SEBI’s August 2026 consultation on simplifying onboarding and enabling reuse of KYC records. KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) must tag individual attributes as validated when verified against official or source databases, but records remain portable across intermediaries even where not every attribute is validated. Intermediaries may rely on KYC completed by another SEBI registered intermediary through KRA records, or by entities supervised by other financial regulators through the Central KYC Records Registry. They retain ultimate responsibility for client KYC, including enhanced due diligence appropriate to the client’s risk profile. Completed KYC information must reach a KRA within three working days. Video In Person Verification requires an authorized intermediary official to attend and must undergo concurrent audit. Safeguards include live geolocation, prevention of connections using spoofed IP addresses, face liveness checks and encryption. The client’s IP address must originate in India or a FATF compliant country and match the country in the KYC form and supporting documentation. Existing procedures continue for clients in countries that are not FATF compliant and for KYC undertaken before implementation. Foreign nationals seeking Foreign Portfolio Investor registration remain subject to the separate framework for those investors.
SEBI eases KYC for individuals resident outside India with digital onboarding and portable records
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has finalized rules permitting digital Know Your Client (KYC) onboarding for individuals resident outside India from Financial Action Task Force compliant countries, effective Dec. 3, 2026. Records will be portable even where some attributes remain unvalidated, and intermediaries may rely on KYC completed by other regulated financial entities while retaining responsibility. Video verification requires an authorized official’s presence, security controls and concurrent audit.