Video KYC Under RBI Rules: What a V-CIP System Must Do
RBI's Video-based Customer Identification Process explained as product requirements: live officials, geotagging, liveness, PAN and Aadhaar checks, recording, audit and infrastructure.
RBI allowed video KYC in January 2020 and tightened the rules in May 2021. A completed Video-based Customer Identification Process, or V-CIP, is treated as equal to face-to-face verification, which is why banks and NBFCs use it to open full-KYC accounts without a branch visit. The rules are detailed, and most of them are software requirements.
What V-CIP is, and who can use it
V-CIP is a live, consent-based, audio-visual interaction between a customer and an authorised official of a regulated entity, used to identify the customer and verify their documents. It is available to RBI-regulated entities: banks, NBFCs, payment system operators and others covered by the KYC directions. A fintech uses it through, and under the responsibility of, its regulated partner. It can be used for onboarding new customers, converting accounts opened with Aadhaar OTP eKYC to full KYC, and periodic updating of KYC.
The interaction itself
The call is not a selfie upload. It has to be live and conducted by a trained official.
Documents and verification
Identity is established using one of the permitted Aadhaar-based methods or other officially valid documents, plus PAN.
Recording, audit and activation
The entire interaction is recorded and stored safely with a date and time stamp, in a way that makes the record easy to retrieve. The account is not activated on the agent's word alone: accounts opened through V-CIP become operational only after a concurrent audit of the process.
The agent verifies the customer. The auditor verifies the agent. Both steps need a screen in the system.
Infrastructure requirements
The directions set conditions on where and how the technology runs. This is where many off-the-shelf video tools fall short.
What to build
A workable V-CIP product has four parts: a customer journey on mobile web or app, an agent console, an auditor console and an admin layer.
Designing for completion
Most failed sessions fail for ordinary reasons: poor network, bad lighting, a missing PAN card or a long wait for an agent. Run pre-checks before the customer joins the queue, tell them what to keep ready, offer call-back slots and support regional languages. Note that RBI has since reorganised its KYC rules into consolidated directions; check the current text for exact wording.
- RBI Master Direction: Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016, as amended
- Reserve Bank of India: Master Directions
This article explains what to build, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm against the current official text before relying on it.
