If you are an NRI, OCI cardholder or foreign national, you will soon be able to open an Indian trading or demat account fully online, without being in India. SEBI’s circular of November 4, 2026 removes the rule that a client must be physically in India during digital KYC. The change applies to investors living in FATF-compliant countries and takes effect on December 3, 2026.
SEBI has also made KYC records portable. Once your KYC is done with one intermediary, others can reuse it instead of asking you to start over.
Why NRIs struggled with KYC until now
Under SEBI’s 2023 KYC Master Circular, an intermediary had to make sure the client was physically in India during digital KYC. For an NRI living in Dubai, Singapore or London, that meant one of two things: wait for a trip home, or fall back on slow paper-based onboarding with couriered, attested documents.
A December 2025 relaxation helped only partly. It eased geo-tagging for NRIs doing re-KYC, not for new account opening. The new circular replaces that relaxation and covers both.
What SEBI has changed
The circular makes four headline changes for individual persons resident outside India (PROIs): NRIs, OCIs and foreign nationals.
| Area | Before | From December 3, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Location during digital KYC | Client had to be in India | Client can be in any FATF-compliant country |
| Portability of KYC records | Limited by validation status | All records portable, validated or not |
| Reuse of KYC done elsewhere | Mainly within the SEBI ecosystem | Can rely on KYC by SEBI intermediaries (via KRA) or RBI, IRDAI, PFRDA and IFSCA-regulated entities (via CKYCRR) |
| Video verification (VIPV) | Standard checks | Intermediary’s authorised official must be present; process under concurrent audit |
How onboarding from overseas will work
Your broker will first check whether your KYC already exists, using your PAN and CKYC ID. If it does, you only add what has changed or lapsed. If not, here is what a full digital KYC involves:
- PAN – verified against the Income Tax database. No physical copy needed.
- Passport – a copy is collected, plus your OCI card if applicable.
- KYC form – filled online or as a scanned form, signed with an electronic signature.
- Signature – a cropped image of your signature, which you then sign live on camera during video verification.
- Proof of identity and address – an officially valid document showing your overseas address. Foreign nationals without an address on their ID can use a foreign government document or a letter from a foreign embassy in India.
- Document verification – if originals cannot be seen, you can use DigiLocker, Aadhaar e-KYC, a verifiable e-document, or a copy attested by a notary, Indian embassy or consulate, or an authorised bank official.
- Mobile and email – an Indian or international number works. Both are verified by OTP; if the mobile can’t be verified, all communication goes to your verified email.
- Video In-Person Verification (VIPV) – a live video call with the broker’s official present.
What the video call checks
SEBI has set strict safeguards so remote onboarding stays secure:
- Your IP address must come from India or a FATF-compliant country, matching the country in your KYC form and documents.
- VPNs, proxies and spoofed IPs are blocked.
- Live GPS location and a time stamp are recorded in the video.
- Random prompts and face-liveness checks confirm the call is live, not pre-recorded.
- Your face must match the photo in your form and documents.
All documents must be in English. Anything in another language needs an attested English translation.
Portable KYC: do it once, use it everywhere
KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) will now tag each detail in your record (PAN, passport, address, mobile, email) as “validated” when it is checked against an official database. Every record can be shared with another intermediary, whether or not each detail is validated.
In practice, opening a second account with another broker or a mutual fund platform should need far less paperwork. Your broker must upload your completed KYC to the KRA within 3 working days. When you later update your details with one intermediary, the KRA updates the record and informs the others you deal with.
The broker onboarding you still carries final responsibility for your KYC. It may ask for extra details for enhanced due diligence, depending on your risk profile.
