Effective December 3, non-resident Indians (NRIs) and foreigners willing to invest in the country will have an easier know-your-customer (KYC) onbaording process as capital markets watchdog Sebi relaxes those norms for persons resident outside India (PROIs or NRIs).
The market regulator also allowed those from the financial action task-force (FATF)-compliant countries to complete digital onboarding without being physically present here.
The revised framework, issued on Wednesday, will cover NRIs, overseas citizens of India (OCIs) and foreign nationals. However, clients residing in FATF-non-compliant countries will continue to follow existing KYC requirements.
Under the revised norms, intermediaries can accept digital submissions of KYC information and supporting documents. The regulator has also made KYC records portable, allowing them to be shared across intermediaries irrespective of whether all individual attributes have been validated.
Intermediaries can rely on KYC undertaken by another Sebi-registered intermediary or an entity regulated by another financial sector regulator, based on records obtained from KYC registration agencies or the Central KYC Records Registry.
The framework requires intermediaries to collect copies of passports and, where applicable, OCI cards. Overseas addresses will be accepted as proof of address. Clients can submit KYC forms digitally or physically, while specimen signatures can be submitted electronically, subject to verification during video-based in-person verification.
Sebi has mandated the presence of an authorised official during video verification and subjected the process to concurrent audit. Intermediaries will remain ultimately responsible for client KYC, including enhanced due diligence based on risk profiles. Intermediaries must provide completed KYC information to KRAs within three working days. The revised provisions will also apply to re-KYC of clients in FATF-compliant countries.
