KYC Onboarding Specification

Welcome to the KYC (Know Your Customer) onboarding specification. If you are new to the firm, this is the single most important system you need to understand. Every customer who wants to buy their first share, place their first F&O order, or simply open a demat account must pass through this gateway. Think of it as the bridge that transforms a stranger on the internet into a verified, regulation-compliant client who is authorized to trade on Indian stock exchanges. By the time you finish reading these docs, you will understand exactly how that transformation happens — from the moment a user enters their mobile number to the moment their signed application reaches NSE, BSE, CDSL, and NSDL.

What Is This?

A complete technical specification for stock broking KYC onboarding — covering a 9-screen mobile-first user journey, 25+ vendor integrations, 8 parallel batch pipelines, maker-checker admin workflow, and full SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) / KRA (KYC Registration Agency) / CKYC (Central KYC) regulatory compliance. Built for an Indian stock broking firm enabling individual customers to go from mobile OTP (One-Time Password) to first trade in 24-72 hours.

Where to start

If you are a new engineer, start with the User Journey section. Walk through all 9 screens in order. That will give you the clearest mental model of what the customer experiences and what the system does at each step. Come back here afterward to explore the architecture, vendor integrations, and operations sections.

Who Is This For?

Whether you are building features, integrating vendors, or answering compliance queries, there is a reading path for you.

Product Managers

Understand the end-to-end user experience: 9 screens, ~6 minutes, ~12 typed fields.

Start: Journey Overview → 9 Screens → Design Principles

Engineers

API specs, field mappings, async patterns, batch file formats, and error handling.

Start: Flow Summary → Vendor Integrations → Batch Pipeline

Compliance Teams

SEBI circulars, KRA/CKYC dual upload, 6-attribute matching, FATCA/CRS, audit trails.

Start: Regulatory Circulars → 6-Attribute Matching → Audit & Compliance

Vendor Integration

Vendor comparison tables, recommended stack, pricing, and implementation checklists.

Start: Vendor Strategy → KRA → CKYC → Exchanges

The diagram below shows the complete onboarding flow. Spend a minute studying it — every box corresponds to a section in these docs.

Onboarding Flow

Complete Onboarding Flow — 9 Screens + Maker-Checker + Batch Pipelines

Here are the numbers that define the system. These are the metrics you will hear in every sprint planning and stakeholder review.

At a Glance

9 Screens, ~6 Minutes

Mobile-first user journey: mobile OTP → PAN → DigiLocker → identity confirm → bank → trading prefs → nominations → declarations → eSign.

~454 Fields, ~90% Prefilled

DigiLocker + KRA + CKYC prefill ~90% of identity/financial fields. User only types mobile, PAN, DOB, email, bank details, and segment toggles.

25+ Vendor Integrations

Decentro, Digio, HyperVerge, Leegality, TrackWizz, and more — covering PAN, bank, KRA, CKYC, DigiLocker, eSign, AML, face match, exchanges, and depositories.

8 Parallel Batch Pipelines

KRA, CKYC, NSE, BSE, MCX, CDSL, NSDL, and Income pipelines run asynchronously after maker-checker approval.

Why so many vendors?

Indian securities regulation requires identity verification through multiple independent sources — PAN through NSDL/Protean, KYC status through KRA agencies, central identity through CKYC (CERSAI), and document verification through DigiLocker. No single vendor covers all of these. The vendor strategy section explains how we stitch them together.

Documentation Structure

The table below maps each section to what you will find inside. Use it as a reference whenever you need to locate a specific topic.

Section	What You’ll Find
Architecture	11 design principles, 9-screen flow overview, data source mapping, security requirements
User Journey	Detailed specification for each of the 9 onboarding screens with vendor integration points
Vendor Integrations	Deep-dive specs for 12+ vendors: API details, field mappings, error handling, implementation checklists
Operations	Batch pipelines, exchange registration, 6-attribute matching, admin workflow, status machine
Reference	Full 454-field master dataset, code tables, regulatory circulars, cost analysis, architecture diagrams
Appendix	Non-individual entities, NRI flows, minor/joint accounts, vendor roadmap, communications

Regulations change frequently

SEBI issues circulars throughout the year that can alter KYC requirements, field formats, or compliance deadlines. The regulatory references below are current as of this writing, but always cross-check with the Regulatory Circulars page and the official SEBI website for the latest updates.

Key Regulatory References

These are the circulars and regulations that govern everything in this specification. You will see them referenced throughout the docs. Bookmark this table — you will come back to it often.

Regulation	Reference
SEBI KYC Master Circular	SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2023/168 (Oct 2023)
SEBI Stock Brokers Master	SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD/P/CIR/2025/90 (Jun 2025)
SEBI Stock Brokers Regulations 2026	Notified Jan 7, 2026 — replaces 1992 regulations
Dual KRA + CKYC Upload	Mandatory since Aug 2024
DDPI (replaces POA)	Since Nov 2022, optional
Up to 10 Nominees	Since Jan 2025, opt-out needs video verification