On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) announced a new process for re-KYC for NRIs (Non-Resident Indians). SEBI's new announcement led to a big relaxation for the NRIs by removing the earlier requirement of physically being present in India while undergoing digital verification for re-KYC. These changes in the rules are expected to make the re-KYC process easier and faster for millions of NRIs who have investment accounts in India but live abroad.
According to SEBI, this was not a sudden decision and was taken after getting suggestions and concerns from various stakeholders who highlighted the practical difficulties and challenges faced by the NRIs with the earlier rule. Many individuals emphasised the problem that requiring clients to be in India during digital verification is inconvenient and can be impossible for those who travel infrequently or live abroad for a long time. To solve this problem and make the re-KYC process easier for everyone, SEBI has changed the rules to make the process more accessible and user-friendly.
In its report, SEBI stated that, "The requirement of physical presence of clients in India for the re-KYC process will no longer be needed during digital onboarding for existing clients".
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What is Re-KYC?
Re-KYC or Re-Know Your Customer is a periodic process that investors use to update or reconfirm their personal and financial details with intermediaries such as brokers, mutual fund houses and other financial institutions. This process ensures that the records remain accurate and compliant with the regulatory norms.
According to the revised guidelines, the NRIs who are already registered as clients are now allowed to complete their re-KYC digitally from outside India. However, SEBI has set strong security requirements to ensure the authenticity.
Intermediaries must use a digital KYC application that includes safety features. These features should involve random prompts, time-stamped interactions and geo-tagging to ensure the session is real. Additionally, the app must also check that the GPS coordinates match the country on the client’s address proof.
The circular states that the app must have "features that randomly start actions to ensure clients’ responses are live and not pre-recorded. It should also include time stamps and geo-location tags. Additionally, the app must check that the GPS location (latitude and longitude) matches the location in the client’s Proof of Address. Finally, it must block any connections that come from spoofed IP addresses".
Any attempt to hide the location by using fake or altered IP addresses will be automatically blocked. The new NRI clients must still be physically located in India during their initial digital onboarding.
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