Opening a demat account is a pain for NRIs. Brokers are trying to fix it.

Zerodha, Angel One are working with Rupeeflo to enable digital notarization for non-resident Indians

- Jash Kriplani & Neil Borate

It isn't easy for non-resident Indians (NRIs) to invest in India. Opening a demat account with a broker, for instance, requires you to fill in forms that run into several pages, courier them to your broker after rectifying any errors, and find authorities in your country of residence to notarize original documents.

To iron out such issues, Zerodha and Angel One have been working with Rupeeflo, a Bengaluru startup. Other brokers are also looking for ways to simplify the process and encourage more NRIs to invest.

Key hurdles
Opening a demat account requires an NRI to fill out forms, scan and email them to a broker. If there are no errors, the broker asks the NRI to courier the form to the official address for processing. This can be cumbersome.

"Currently, NRIs are required to complete filling up account opening documents physically (typically, 20-30 page documents), and get their KYC documents notarized, when they are not verified by KRA (KYC registration agency) or first-time opening an account with a broker or Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India)-regulated entity; if they are not in India physically or not able to visit a branch office of the broker," said Somnath Mukherjee, vice-president, corporate development, Zerodha.

"The notarization can be done by either scheduled commercial banks, licensed notaries (licensed by such country where NRI is residing), court magistrates, judges, Indian embassy or consulate general in the country where the non-resident customer resides," Mukherjee added.

Digital-first