India’s markets regulator SEBI has proposed new measures enabling non-resident Indians and foreign nationals to complete digital know-your-customer checks remotely, streamlining access to Indian investment accounts and modernising onboarding procedures.
India’s markets regulator is moving to make life easier for overseas investors. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has proposed allowing non-resident Indians, overseas citizens of India and foreign nationals living abroad to complete digital know-your-customer checks without first travelling to India, a change that could remove a long-standing hurdle for people trying to open or maintain investment accounts from outside the country.
At present, digital onboarding can be cumbersome for people overseas because location checks are designed around an India-based process. According to reporting by Moneycontrol, the existing framework has required physical presence in India for some re-KYC steps, while the new approach would let NRIs complete periodic verification from abroad. SEBI’s consultation paper says the revised system would apply to individuals in Financial Action Task Force-compliant countries.
The regulator is not proposing to relax verification altogether. Instead, it has outlined a set of controls intended to preserve identity checks while reducing friction. Those measures include digital signatures, DigiLocker, digital Aadhaar authentication where eligible, video-based verification, time-stamping, geo-location tagging and random action prompts to help confirm that the person completing the process is genuine. VisaVerge reported that intermediaries may also be required to match GPS coordinates with the country listed on proof-of-address documents.
The move fits a broader push across India’s financial system to modernise onboarding for non-resident investors. In December 2025, Business Standard reported that the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority had already revised KYC rules for NRIs and overseas citizens of India seeking to join the National Pension System, allowing digital onboarding from abroad subject to safeguards such as live photographs, valid digital documents and location data. Separately, SEBI has already said it supports technology-led KYC methods, including eSign and DigiLocker, in earlier reforms aimed at reducing the need for physical visits to intermediaries.
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