The cries of Indians sitting abroad! SEBI is bringing the easiest method of KYC, the hassle of going to the bank will end. Great news for Indians living abroad! SEBI is introducing the easiest KYC method, eliminating the hassle of visiting a bank. – ..

Capital market regulator SEBI is making big preparations to make the path of investment easier for Indian citizens living abroad i.e. Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). It is often seen that Indians living outside the country have to go through complex paperwork and ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) processes to invest in India’s stock market, mutual funds or other financial instruments. But now SEBI is going to revamp this entire process, so that there will be no need for NRIs to physically visit bank branches for their re-verification or new KYC.

Digital solutions in the digital age: In-person verification will be done sitting at home

As per the current rules, in many cases NRI investors had to personally physically attend the bank branch for In-Person Verification (IPV) or get the documents attested by Embassy officials. SEBI is now considering making this process completely digital and paperless by using technology. Under the new proposals, Video Based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) and other modern digital modalities will be promoted, allowing even a person living across the seven oceans to complete his KYC process securely in a matter of minutes.

Efforts to promote NRI investment in Indian markets

Experts believe that: “This move will not only save time and money for NRIs, but will also accelerate the inflow of foreign capital into India’s financial markets. The simplified digital KYC process will also attract young NRI investors to be a part of India’s growth story.”

SEBI is preparing a strong and secure framework in this regard in collaboration with various banks, stockmarket exchanges and digital service providers. In this, full care will be taken of security and data privacy so that any type of financial fraud can be avoided.

Banks and broking firms will also benefit at local level

The direct impact of this decision will also be seen on the banking sectors and digital broking platforms present in India. Banks at the local level will now be freed from lengthy processes of manual documentation to handle NRI customers. This will reduce the operational cost of banks and they will be able to open more and more NRI accounts in less time. SEBI may issue official notification of this new guideline in the coming few weeks.