What happened
India’s markets regulator, SEBI, has made it easier for overseas investors to meet its Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. The changes cover people who are Non-Resident Indians, hold Overseas Citizen of India cards, or are foreign nationals. According to Business Today, citing a PTI report, the circular came out on 4 November 2026 and the new framework applies from 3 December.
It covers individual Persons Resident Outside India (PROI) who live in countries seen as compliant by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global body that sets standards against money laundering. Brokers and other SEBI-registered intermediaries can now take KYC details and supporting papers in digital form from such clients, who no longer need to be in India. Business Today reported that earlier, physical presence requirements during digital onboarding made things hard for investors abroad.
Documents and verification
- Intermediaries need to gather the client’s Permanent Account Number (PAN), plus a passport and OCI card where relevant, along with identity and address proof.
- For individual PROI clients, the home address abroad is treated as the current address.
- KYC forms and specimen signatures can be sent electronically, subject to prescribed verification.
When an in-person check is not practical, intermediaries can use Video In-Person Verification (VIPV). SEBI has attached safeguards: live geo-tagging, face-liveness checks, end-to-end encryption and an authorised official present during the session.
Sharing of KYC records
KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs), which hold clients’ verified KYC data, can mark individual details as “validated” after matching them with official databases. Validated records can then be passed to other intermediaries, cutting repeat verification.
An intermediary can also lean on the KYC work already done by a different SEBI-registered firm or by an institution regulated in the financial sector. It would do so through records held with KRAs or the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCRR). Even then, the firm receiving those records remains answerable for KYC compliance and enhanced due diligence.
KYC information on individual PROI clients must reach the relevant KRA within three working days of finishing the process. The framework also applies to re-KYC requests from eligible clients in FATF-compliant countries.
What it means for you
If you are an NRI, OCI or foreign national living in an eligible country, you should be able to open or update an investment account with an Indian intermediary from abroad once the framework starts on 3 December. Keep your PAN, passport, OCI card (if you hold one) and address proof handy.
You may be asked to join a video verification call if an in-person check is not possible. If your KYC is already validated with a KRA, other intermediaries may be able to use it, which could mean less repeated paperwork. Residents of countries outside the FATF-compliant group are not covered by this relaxation, based on the reports.
Read more on what KYC is and how SEBI regulates market intermediaries. If you are weighing your residential status for tax and investment purposes, the NRI Residential Status Calculator may help.
Background
KYC is the identity and address verification that financial firms must complete before opening an account. For overseas investors, the need to be physically present or to go through lengthy paper processes has been a common hurdle. According to Business Today, the move aims to simplify onboarding, cut documentation hurdles and improve access to Indian securities markets for overseas investors, while keeping verification and compliance safeguards.
