MD9D873
MD9D873
MD9D873
CHAPTER – I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short Title and Commencement.
(a) These Directions shall be called the Reserve Bank of India (Know Your
Customer (KYC)) Directions, 2016.
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(b) These directions shall come into effect on the day they are placed on the
official website of the Reserve Bank of India.
2. Applicability
(a) The provisions of these Directions shall apply to every entity regulated by
Reserve Bank of India, more specifically as defined in 3 (b) (xiii) below, except
where specifically mentioned otherwise.
(b) These directions shall also apply to those branches and majority owned
subsidiaries of the REs which are located abroad, to the extent they are not
contradictory to the local laws in the host country, provided that:
i. where applicable laws and regulations prohibit implementation of these
guidelines, the same shall be brought to the notice of the Reserve Bank of
India.
ii. in case there is a variance in KYC/AML standards prescribed by the
Reserve Bank of India and the host country regulators, branches/
subsidiaries of REs are required to adopt the more stringent regulation of
the two.
iii. branches/ subsidiaries of foreign incorporated banks may adopt the more
stringent regulation of the two i.e. standards prescribed by the Reserve
Bank of India and their home country regulators.
Provided that this rule shall not apply to ‘small accounts’ referred to in
Section 23 of Chapter VI.
3. Definitions
In these Directions, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms herein shall
bear the meanings assigned to them below:
(a) Terms bearing meaning assigned in terms of Prevention of Money-Laundering
Act, 2002 and the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records)
Rules, 2005:
i. 2“Aadhaar number” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (a) of
section 2 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies,
Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016);
ii. “Act” and “Rules” means the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 and
the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005,
respectively and amendments thereto.
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Explanation - For the purpose of this clause, the terms "Managing Director"
and "Whole-time Director" shall have the meaning assigned to them in the
Companies Act, 2013.
viii. 5“Digital KYC” means the capturing live photo of the customer and officially
valid document or the proof of possession of Aadhaar, where offline
verification cannot be carried out, along with the latitude and longitude of the
location where such live photo is being taken by an authorised officer of the
RE as per the provisions contained in the Act.
ix. 6“Digital Signature” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause
(p) of subsection (1) of section (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000
(21 of 2000).
x. 7“Equivalent e-document” means an electronic equivalent of a document,
issued by the issuing authority of such document with its valid digital
signature including documents issued to the digital locker account of the
customer as per rule 9 of the Information Technology (Preservation and
Retention of Information by Intermediaries Providing Digital Locker Facilities)
Rules, 2016.
xi. 8“Know Your Client (KYC) Identifier” means the unique number or code
assigned to a customer by the Central KYC Records Registry.
xii. “Non-profit organisations” (NPO) means any entity or organisation that is
registered as a trust or a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860
or any similar State legislation or a company registered under Section 8 of
the Companies Act, 2013.
xiii. “Officially Valid Document” (OVD) means the passport, the driving
licence, 9proof of possession of Aadhaar number, the Voter's Identity Card
issued by the Election Commission of India, job card issued by NREGA duly
signed by an officer of the State Government and letter issued by the
National Population Register containing details of name and address.
Provided that,
a. where the customer submits his proof of possession of Aadhaar number
as an OVD, he may submit it in such form as are issued by the Unique
Identification Authority of India.
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b. 10where the OVD furnished by the customer does not have updated
address, the following documents or the equivalent e-documents thereof
shall be deemed to be OVDs for the limited purpose of proof of address:-
i. utility bill which is not more than two months old of any service provider
(electricity, telephone, post-paid mobile phone, piped gas, water bill);
ii. property or Municipal tax receipt;
iii. pension or family pension payment orders (PPOs) issued to retired
employees by Government Departments or Public Sector
Undertakings, if they contain the address;
iv. letter of allotment of accommodation from employer issued by State
Government or Central Government Departments, statutory or
regulatory bodies, public sector undertakings, scheduled commercial
banks, financial institutions and listed companies and leave and licence
agreements with such employers allotting official accommodation;
c. the customer shall submit OVD with current address within a period of
three months of submitting the documents specified at ‘b’ above
d. where the OVD presented by a foreign national does not contain the
details of address, in such case the documents issued by the Government
departments of foreign jurisdictions and letter issued by the Foreign
Embassy or Mission in India shall be accepted as proof of address.
Explanation: For the purpose of this clause, a document shall be deemed to
be an OVD even if there is a change in the name subsequent to its issuance
provided it is supported by a marriage certificate issued by the State
Government or Gazette notification, indicating such a change of name.
xiv. 11“Offline verification” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause
(pa) of section 2 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other
Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016).
xv. “Person” has the same meaning assigned in the Act and includes:
a. an individual,
b. a Hindu undivided family,
c. a company,
d. a firm,
e. an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated
or not,
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f. every artificial juridical person, not falling within any one of the above
persons (a to e), and
g. any agency, office or branch owned or controlled by any of the above
persons (a to f).
xvi. “Principal Officer” means an officer nominated by the RE, responsible for
furnishing information as per rule 8 of the Rules.
xvii. “Suspicious transaction” means a “transaction” as defined below, including
an attempted transaction, whether or not made in cash, which, to a person
acting in good faith:
a. gives rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that it may involve
proceeds of an offence specified in the Schedule to the Act, regardless
of the value involved; or
b. appears to be made in circumstances of unusual or unjustified
complexity; or
c. appears to not have economic rationale or bona-fide purpose; or
d. gives rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that it may involve
financing of the activities relating to terrorism.
xvi. “Domestic and cross-border wire transfer”: When the originator bank and the
beneficiary bank is the same person or different person located in the same
country, such a transaction is a domestic wire transfer, and if the ‘originator
bank’ or ‘beneficiary bank’ is located in different countries such a transaction
is cross-border wire transfer.
(c) All other expressions unless defined herein shall have the same meaning as have
been assigned to them under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Reserve
Bank of India Act, 1935, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the
Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005,
the 14Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and
Services) Act, 2016 and regulations made thereunder, any statutory modification
or re-enactment thereto or as used in commercial parlance, as the case may be.
CHAPTER – II
General
4. There shall be a Know Your Customer (KYC) policy duly approved by the Board
of Directors of REs or any committee of the Board to which power has been
delegated.
6. Designated Director:
(a) A “Designated Director” means a person designated by the RE to ensure
overall compliance with the obligations imposed under Chapter IV of the PML
Act and the Rules and shall be nominated by the Board.
(b) The name, designation and address of the Designated Director shall be
communicated to the FIU-IND.
(c) In no case, the Principal Officer shall be nominated as the 'Designated
Director'.
7. Principal Officer:
(a) The Principal Officer shall be responsible for ensuring compliance, monitoring
transactions, and sharing and reporting information as required under the
law/regulations.
(b) The name, designation and address of the Principal Officer shall be
communicated to the FIU-IND.
CHAPTER – III
Customer Acceptance Policy
9. REs shall frame a Customer Acceptance Policy.
10. Without prejudice to the generality of the aspect that Customer Acceptance
Policy may contain, REs shall ensure that:
(a) No account is opened in anonymous or fictitious/benami name.
(b) No account is opened where the RE is unable to apply appropriate CDD
measures, either due to non-cooperation of the customer or non-reliability of
the documents/information furnished by the customer.
(c) No transaction or account-based relationship is undertaken without following
the CDD procedure.
(d) The mandatory information to be sought for KYC purpose while opening an
account and during the periodic updation, is specified.
(e) ‘Optional’/additional information, is obtained with the explicit consent of the
customer after the account is opened.
(f) REs shall apply the CDD procedure at the UCIC level. Thus, if an existing
KYC compliant customer of a RE desires to open another account with the
same RE, there shall be no need for a fresh CDD exercise.
(g) CDD Procedure is followed for all the joint account holders, while opening a
joint account.
(h) Circumstances in which, a customer is permitted to act on behalf of another
person/entity, is clearly spelt out.
(i) Suitable system is put in place to ensure that the identity of the customer does
not match with any person or entity, whose name appears in the sanctions
lists circulated by Reserve Bank of India.
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(j) 16Where Permanent Account Number (PAN) is obtained, the same shall be
verified from the verification facility of the issuing authority.
(k) 17Where an equivalent e-document is obtained from the customer, RE shall
verify the digital signature as per the provisions of the Information Technology
Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).
11. Customer Acceptance Policy shall not result in denial of banking/financial facility
to members of the general public, especially those, who are financially or socially
disadvantaged.
CHAPTER – IV
Risk Management
12. For Risk Management, REs shall have a risk based approach which includes the
following.
(a) Customers shall be categorised as low, medium and high risk category, based
on the assessment and risk perception of the RE.
(b) Risk categorisation shall be undertaken based on parameters such as
customer’s identity, social/financial status, nature of business activity, and
information about the customer’s business and their location etc. While
considering customer’s identity, the ability to confirm identity documents
through online or other services offered by issuing authorities may also be
factored in.
Chapter V
Customer Identification Procedure (CIP)
13. REs shall undertake identification of customers in the following cases:
(a) Commencement of an account-based relationship with the customer.
(b) Carrying out any international money transfer operations for a person who is not
an account holder of the bank.
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(c) When there is a doubt about the authenticity or adequacy of the customer
identification data it has obtained.
(d) Selling third party products as agents, selling their own products, payment of
dues of credit cards/sale and reloading of prepaid/travel cards and any other
product for more than rupees fifty thousand.
(e) Carrying out transactions for a non-account-based customer, that is a walk-in
customer, where the amount involved is equal to or exceeds rupees fifty
thousand, whether conducted as a single transaction or several transactions
that appear to be connected.
(f) When a RE has reason to believe that a customer (account- based or walk-in) is
intentionally structuring a transaction into a series of transactions below the
threshold of rupees fifty thousand.
(g) REs shall ensure that introduction is not to be sought while opening accounts.
14. For the purpose of verifying the identity of customers at the time of
commencement of an account-based relationship, REs, shall at their option, rely
on customer due diligence done by a third party, subject to the following
conditions:
(a) 18Records or the information of the customer due diligence carried out by the
third party is obtained within two days from the third party or from the Central
KYC Records Registry.
(b) Adequate steps are taken by REs to satisfy themselves that copies of
identification data and other relevant documentation relating to the customer
due diligence requirements shall be made available from the third party upon
request without delay.
(c) The third party is regulated, supervised or monitored for, and has measures
in place for, compliance with customer due diligence and record-keeping
requirements in line with the requirements and obligations under the PML
Act.
(d) The third party shall not be based in a country or jurisdiction assessed as
high risk.
(e) The ultimate responsibility for customer due diligence and undertaking
enhanced due diligence measures, as applicable, will be with the RE.
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Chapter VI
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Procedure
Part I - Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Procedure in case of Individuals
15. 19Deleted
16. 20For undertaking CDD, REs shall obtain the following from an individual while
establishing an account-based relationship or while dealing with the individual
who is a beneficial owner, authorised signatory or the power of attorney holder
related to any legal entity:
(a) the Aadhaar number where,
(i) he is desirous of receiving any benefit or subsidy under any scheme
notified under section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and
Other subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016); or
(ii) he decides to submit his Aadhaar number voluntarily to a bank or any RE
notified under first proviso to sub-section (1) of section 11A of the PML Act;
or
(aa) the proof of possession of Aadhaar number where offline verification can be
carried out; or
(ab) the proof of possession of Aadhaar number where offline verification cannot
be carried out or any OVD or the equivalent e-document thereof containing the
details of his identity and address; and
(b) the Permanent Account Number or the equivalent e-document thereof or
Form No. 60 as defined in Income-tax Rules, 1962; and
(c) such other documents including in respect of the nature of business and
financial status of the customer, or the equivalent e-documents thereof as may
be required by the RE:
ii) proof of possession of Aadhaar under clause (aa) above where offline
verification can be carried out, the RE shall carry out offline verification.
iii) an equivalent e-document of any OVD, the RE shall verify the digital
signature as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of
2000) and any rules issues thereunder and take a live photo as specified
under Annex I.
iv) any OVD or proof of possession of Aadhaar number under clause (ab)
above where offline verification cannot be carried out, the RE shall carry out
verification through digital KYC as specified under Annex I.
Provided that for a period not beyond such date as may be notified by the
Government for a class of REs, instead of carrying out digital KYC, the RE
pertaining to such class may obtain a certified copy of the proof of possession of
Aadhaar number or the OVD and a recent photograph where an equivalent e-
document is not submitted.
17. Accounts opened using OTP based e-KYC, in non-face-to-face mode, are subject
to the following conditions:
i. There must be a specific consent from the customer for authentication through
OTP.
ii. the aggregate balance of all the deposit accounts of the customer shall not
exceed rupees one lakh. In case, the balance exceeds the threshold, the
account shall cease to be operational, till CDD as mentioned at (v) below is
complete.
iii. the aggregate of all credits in a financial year, in all the deposit accounts taken
together, shall not exceed rupees two lakh.
iv. As regards borrowal accounts, only term loans shall be sanctioned. The
aggregate amount of term loans sanctioned shall not exceed rupees sixty
thousand in a year.
v. 21Accounts, both deposit and borrowal, opened using OTP based e-KYC shall
not be allowed for more than one year unless identification as per Section 16
or as per Section 18 (V-CIP) is carried out. If Aadhaar details are used under
Section 18, the process shall be followed in its entirety including fresh Aadhaar
OTP authentication.
vi. If the CDD procedure as mentioned above is not completed within a year, in
respect of deposit accounts, the same shall be closed immediately. In respect
of borrowal accounts no further debits shall be allowed.
vii. 22A declaration shall be obtained from the customer to the effect that no other
account has been opened nor will be opened using OTP based KYC in non-
face-to-face mode with any other RE. Further, while uploading KYC
information to CKYCR, REs shall clearly indicate that such accounts are
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opened using OTP based e-KYC and other REs shall not open accounts
based on the KYC information of accounts opened with OTP based e-KYC
procedure in non-face-to-face mode.
viii. REs shall have strict monitoring procedures including systems to generate
alerts in case of any non-compliance/violation, to ensure compliance with the
above mentioned conditions.
REs opting to undertake V-CIP, shall adhere to the following minimum standards:
i) The RE should have complied with the RBI guidelines on minimum baseline
cyber security and resilience framework for banks, as updated from time to
time as well as other general guidelines on IT risks. The technology
infrastructure should be housed in own premises of the RE and the V-CIP
connection and interaction shall necessarily originate from its own secured
network domain. Any technology related outsourcing for the process should
be compliant with relevant RBI guidelines.
ii) The RE shall ensure end-to-end encryption of data between customer device
and the hosting point of the V-CIP application, as per appropriate encryption
standards. The customer consent should be recorded in an auditable and
alteration proof manner.
iii) The V-CIP infrastructure / application should be capable of preventing
connection from IP addresses outside India or from spoofed IP addresses.
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iv) The video recordings should contain the live GPS co-ordinates (geo-tagging)
of the customer undertaking the V-CIP and date-time stamp. The quality of
the live video in the V-CIP shall be adequate to allow identification of the
customer beyond doubt.
v) The application shall have components with face liveness / spoof detection
as well as face matching technology with high degree of accuracy, even
though the ultimate responsibility of any customer identification rests with the
RE. Appropriate artificial intelligence (AI) technology can be used to ensure
that the V-CIP is robust.
vi) Based on experience of detected / attempted / ‘near-miss’ cases of forged
identity, the technology infrastructure including application software as well
as work flows shall be regularly upgraded. Any detected case of forged
identity through V-CIP shall be reported as a cyber event under extant
regulatory guidelines.
vii) The V-CIP infrastructure shall undergo necessary tests such as Vulnerability
Assessment, Penetration testing and a Security Audit to ensure its
robustness and end-to-end encryption capabilities. Any critical gap reported
under this process shall be mitigated before rolling out its implementation.
Such tests should be conducted by suitably accredited agencies as
prescribed by RBI. Such tests should also be carried out periodically in
conformance to internal / regulatory guidelines.
viii) The V-CIP application software and relevant APIs / webservices shall also
undergo appropriate testing of functional, performance, maintenance
strength before being used in live environment. Only after closure of any
critical gap found during such tests, the application should be rolled out.
Such tests shall also be carried out periodically in conformity with internal/
regulatory guidelines.
i) Each RE shall formulate a clear work flow and standard operating procedure
for V-CIP and ensure adherence to it. The V-CIP process shall be operated
only by officials of the RE specially trained for this purpose. The official
should be capable to carry out liveliness check and detect any other
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Further, in line with the prescribed period of three days for usage of Aadhaar
XML file / Aadhaar QR code, REs shall ensure that the video process of the
V-CIP is undertaken within three days of downloading / obtaining the
identification information through CKYCR / Aadhaar authentication /
equivalent e-document, if in the rare cases, the entire process cannot be
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vii) If the address of the customer is different from that indicated in the OVD,
suitable records of the current address shall be captured, as per the existing
requirement. It shall be ensured that the economic and financial
profile/information submitted by the customer is also confirmed from the
customer undertaking the V-CIP in a suitable manner.
viii) RE shall capture a clear image of PAN card to be displayed by the customer
during the process, except in cases where e-PAN is provided by the
customer. The PAN details shall be verified from the database of the issuing
authority including through Digilocker.
ix) Use of printed copy of equivalent e-document including e-PAN is not valid for
the V-CIP.
x) The authorised official of the RE shall ensure that photograph of the
customer in the Aadhaar/OVD and PAN/e-PAN matches with the customer
undertaking the V-CIP and the identification details in Aadhaar/OVD and
PAN/e-PAN shall match with the details provided by the customer.
xi) Assisted V-CIP shall be permissible when banks take help of Banking
Correspondents (BCs) facilitating the process only at the customer end.
Banks shall maintain the details of the BC assisting the customer, where
services of BCs are utilized. The ultimate responsibility for customer due
diligence will be with the bank.
xii) All accounts opened through V-CIP shall be made operational only after
being subject to concurrent audit, to ensure the integrity of process and its
acceptability of the outcome.
xiii) All matters not specified under the paragraph but required under other
statutes such as the Information Technology (IT) Act shall be appropriately
complied with by the RE.
19. 24Deleted
20. 25Deleted
21. 26Deleted
22. Deleted
23. 27Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 16 and as an alternative
thereto, in case an individual who desires to open a bank account, banks shall
open a ‘Small Account’, which entails the following limitations:
i. the aggregate of all credits in a financial year does not exceed rupees
one lakh;
ii. the aggregate of all withdrawals and transfers in a month does not
exceed rupees ten thousand; and
iii. the balance at any point of time does not exceed rupees fifty thousand.
28Provided, that this limit on balance shall not be considered while making
deposits through Government grants, welfare benefits and payment against
procurements.
(d) Banks shall ensure that the stipulated monthly and annual limits on aggregate
of transactions and balance requirements in such accounts are not breached,
before a transaction is allowed to take place.
(e) The account shall remain operational initially for a period of twelve months
which can be extended for a further period of twelve months, provided the
account holder applies and furnishes evidence of having applied for any of the
OVDs during the first twelve months of the opening of the said account.
(f) The entire relaxation provisions shall be reviewed after twenty four months.
(g) 30Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (e) and (f) above, the small
account shall remain operational between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020
and such other periods as may be notified by the Central Government.
(h) The account shall be monitored and when there is suspicion of money
laundering or financing of terrorism activities or other high risk scenarios, the
identity of the customer shall be established as per Section 16.
(i) Foreign remittance shall not be allowed to be credited into the account unless
the identity of the customer is fully established as per Section 16.
(g) The customer shall be notified when the balance reaches rupees forty
thousand or the total credit in a year reaches rupees eighty thousand that
appropriate documents for conducting the KYC must be submitted otherwise
the operations in the account shall be stopped when the total balance in all
the accounts taken together exceeds the limits prescribed in direction (d) and
(e) above.
25. 32Deleted.
26. 33KYC verification once done by one branch/office of the RE shall be valid for
transfer of the account to any other branch/office of the same RE, provided full
KYC verification has already been done for the concerned account and the same
is not due for periodic updation.
29. In cases where the REs are satisfied that it is not possible to furnish two such
documents, REs may, at their discretion, accept only one of those documents as
proof of business/activity.
Provided REs undertake contact point verification and collect such other
information and clarification as would be required to establish the existence of
such firm, and shall confirm and satisfy itself that the business activity has been
verified from the address of the proprietary concern.
32. 43For opening an account of a trust, certified copies of each of the following
documents or the equivalent e-documents thereof shall be obtained:
33B. For opening accounts of juridical persons not specifically covered in the earlier
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part, such as societies, universities and local bodies like village panchayats,
certified copies of the following documents or the equivalent e-documents thereof
shall be obtained:
(a) Document showing name of the person authorised to act on behalf of the
entity;
(b) Documents, as specified in Section 16, of the person holding an attorney
to transact on its behalf and
(c) Such documents as may be required by the RE to establish the legal
existence of such an entity/juridical person.
34. For opening an account of a Legal Person who is not a natural person, the
beneficial owner(s) shall be identified and all reasonable steps in terms of sub-
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rule (3) of Rule 9 of the Rules to verify his/her identity shall be undertaken
keeping in view the following:
(a) Where the customer or the owner of the controlling interest is a company
listed on a stock exchange, or is a subsidiary of such a company, it is not
necessary to identify and verify the identity of any shareholder or
beneficial owner of such companies.
(b) In cases of trust/nominee or fiduciary accounts whether the customer is
acting on behalf of another person as trustee/nominee or any other
intermediary is determined. In such cases, satisfactory evidence of the
identity of the intermediaries and of the persons on whose behalf they are
acting, as also details of the nature of the trust or other arrangements in
place shall be obtained.
Part V - On-going Due Diligence
35. REs shall undertake on-going due diligence of customers to ensure that their
transactions are consistent with their knowledge about the customers,
customers’ business and risk profile; and the source of funds.
36. Without prejudice to the generality of factors that call for close monitoring
following types of transactions shall necessarily be monitored:
(a) Large and complex transactions including RTGS transactions, and
those with unusual patterns, inconsistent with the normal and expected
activity of the customer, which have no apparent economic rationale or
legitimate purpose.
(b) Transactions which exceed the thresholds prescribed for specific
categories of accounts.
(c) High account turnover inconsistent with the size of the balance
maintained.
(d) Deposit of third party cheques, drafts, etc. in the existing and newly
opened accounts followed by cash withdrawals for large amounts.
37. The extent of monitoring shall be aligned with the risk category of the
customer.
Explanation: High risk accounts have to be subjected to more intensified
monitoring.
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for the purpose of proof of address, declared by the customer at the time
of periodic updation. Such requirement, however, shall be clearly
specified by the REs in their internal KYC policy duly approved by the
Board of Directors of REs or any committee of the Board to which power
has been delegated.
iii. Accounts of customers, who were minor at the time of opening
account, on their becoming major: In case of customers for whom
account was opened when they were minor, fresh photographs shall be
obtained on their becoming a major and at that time it shall be ensured
that CDD documents as per the current CDD standards are available
with the REs. Wherever required, REs may carry out fresh KYC of such
customers i.e. customers for whom account was opened when they were
minor, on their becoming a major.
b) Customers other than individuals:
i. No change in KYC information: In case of no change in the KYC
information of the LE customer, a self-declaration in this regard shall be
obtained from the LE customer through its email id registered with the
RE, ATMs, digital channels (such as online banking / internet banking,
mobile application of RE), letter from an official authorized by the LE in
this regard, board resolution etc. Further, REs shall ensure during this
process that Beneficial Ownership (BO) information available with them
is accurate and shall update the same, if required, to keep it as up-to-
date as possible.
ii. Change in KYC information: In case of change in KYC information, RE
shall undertake the KYC process equivalent to that applicable for on-
boarding a new LE customer.
c) Additional measures: In addition to the above, REs shall ensure that,
i. The KYC documents of the customer as per the current CDD standards
are available with them. This is applicable even if there is no change in
customer information but the documents available with the RE are not as
per the current CDD standards. Further, in case the validity of the CDD
documents available with the RE has expired at the time of periodic
updation of KYC, RE shall undertake the KYC process equivalent to that
applicable for on-boarding a new customer.
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ii. Customer’s PAN details, if available with the RE, is verified from the
database of the issuing authority at the time of periodic updation of KYC.
iii. Acknowledgment is provided to the customer mentioning the date of
receipt of the relevant document(s), including self-declaration from the
customer, for carrying out periodic updation. Further, it shall be ensured
that the information / documents obtained from the customers at the time
of periodic updation of KYC are promptly updated in the records /
database of the REs and an intimation, mentioning the date of updation
of KYC details, is provided to the customer.
iv. In order to ensure customer convenience, REs may consider making
available the facility of periodic updation of KYC at any branch, in terms
of their internal KYC policy duly approved by the Board of Directors of
REs or any committee of the Board to which power has been delegated.
v. REs shall adopt a risk-based approach with respect to periodic updation
of KYC. Any additional and exceptional measures, which otherwise are
not mandated under the above instructions, adopted by the REs such as
requirement of obtaining recent photograph, requirement of physical
presence of the customer, requirement of periodic updation of KYC only
in the branch of the RE where account is maintained, a more frequent
periodicity of KYC updation than the minimum specified periodicity etc.,
shall be clearly specified in the internal KYC policy duly approved by the
Board of Directors of REs or any committee of the Board to which power
has been delegated.
vi. REs shall ensure that their internal KYC policy and processes on updation
/ periodic updation of KYC are transparent and adverse actions against
the customers should be avoided, unless warranted by specific regulatory
requirements.
39. 51In case of existing customers, RE shall obtain the Permanent Account Number
or equivalent e-document thereof or Form No.60, by such date as may be notified
by the Central Government, failing which RE shall temporarily cease operations
in the account till the time the Permanent Account Number or equivalent e-
documents thereof or Form No. 60 is submitted by the customer.
Provided that before temporarily ceasing operations for an account, the RE shall
give the customer an accessible notice and a reasonable opportunity to be heard.
31
(c) the decision to open an account for a PEP is taken at a senior level in
accordance with the REs’ Customer Acceptance Policy;
(d) all such accounts are subjected to enhanced monitoring on an on-going
basis;
(e) in the event of an existing customer or the beneficial owner of an existing
account subsequently becoming a PEP, senior management’s approval is
obtained to continue the business relationship;
(f) the CDD measures as applicable to PEPs including enhanced monitoring
on an on-going basis are applicable.
B. These instructions shall also be applicable to accounts where a PEP is the
beneficial owner
Provided that banks shall obtain undertaking from FPIs or the Global Custodian
acting on behalf of the FPI that as and when required, the exempted documents
as detailed in Annex III will be submitted.
34
Chapter VII
Record Management
46. The following steps shall be taken regarding maintenance, preservation and
reporting of customer account information, with reference to provisions of PML
Act and Rules. REs shall,
(a) maintain all necessary records of transactions between the RE and the
customer, both domestic and international, for at least five years from the date
of transaction;
(b) preserve the records pertaining to the identification of the customers and their
addresses obtained while opening the account and during the course of
business relationship, for at least five years after the business relationship is
ended;
(c) make available the identification records and transaction data to the
competent authorities upon request;
(d) introduce a system of maintaining proper record of transactions prescribed
under Rule 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records)
Rules, 2005 (PML Rules, 2005);
(e) maintain all necessary information in respect of transactions prescribed
under PML Rule 3 so as to permit reconstruction of individual transaction,
including the following:
(i) the nature of the transactions;
(ii) the amount of the transaction and the currency in which it was
denominated;
(iii) the date on which the transaction was conducted; and
(iv) the parties to the transaction.
(f) evolve a system for proper maintenance and preservation of account
information in a manner that allows data to be retrieved easily and quickly
whenever required or when requested by the competent authorities;
(g) maintain records of the identity and address of their customer, and records
in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 in hard or soft format.
35
Chapter VIII
Reporting Requirements to Financial Intelligence Unit - India
47. REs shall furnish to the Director, Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND),
information referred to in Rule 3 of the PML (Maintenance of Records) Rules,
2005 in terms of Rule 7 thereof.
Explanation: In terms of Third Amendment Rules notified September 22, 2015
regarding amendment to sub rule 3 and 4 of rule 7, Director, FIU-IND shall have
powers to issue guidelines to the REs for detecting transactions referred to in
various clauses of sub-rule (1) of rule 3, to direct them about the form of
furnishing information and to specify the procedure and the manner of furnishing
information.
48. The reporting formats and comprehensive reporting format guide, prescribed/
released by FIU-IND and Report Generation Utility and Report Validation
Utility developed to assist reporting entities in the preparation of prescribed
reports shall be taken note of. The editable electronic utilities to file electronic
Cash Transaction Reports (CTR) / Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR)
which FIU-IND has placed on its website shall be made use of by REs which
are yet to install/adopt suitable technological tools for extracting CTR/STR
from their live transaction data. The Principal Officers of those REs, whose all
branches are not fully computerized, shall have suitable arrangement to cull
out the transaction details from branches which are not yet computerized and
to feed the data into an electronic file with the help of the editable electronic
utilities of CTR/STR as have been made available by FIU-IND on its website
http://fiuindia.gov.in.
49. While furnishing information to the Director, FIU-IND, delay of each day in not
reporting a transaction or delay of each day in rectifying a mis-represented
transaction beyond the time limit as specified in the Rule shall be constituted
as a separate violation. REs shall not put any restriction on operations in the
accounts where an STR has been filed. REs shall keep the fact of furnishing
of STR strictly confidential. It shall be ensured that there is no tipping off to the
customer at any level.
36
50. Robust software, throwing alerts when the transactions are inconsistent with
risk categorization and updated profile of the customers shall be put in to use
as a part of effective identification and reporting of suspicious transactions.
Chapter IX
Requirements/obligations under International Agreements
Communications from International Agencies –
51. REs shall ensure that in terms of Section 51A of the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) (UAPA) Act, 1967 and amendments thereto, they do not have any
account in the name of individuals/entities appearing in the lists of individuals
and entities, suspected of having terrorist links, which are approved by and
periodically circulated by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The details
of the two lists are as under:
(a) The “ISIL (Da’esh) &Al-Qaida Sanctions List”, which includes names of
individuals and entities associated with the Al-Qaida. The updated ISIL &Al-
Qaida Sanctions List is available at
https://scsanctions.un.org/fop/fop?xml=htdocs/resources/xml/en/consolidated.
xml&xslt=htdocs/resources/xsl/en/al-qaida-r.xsl
(b) The “1988 Sanctions List”, consisting of individuals (Section A of the
consolidated list) and entities (Section B) associated with the Taliban which is
available at
https://scsanctions.un.org/fop/fop?xml=htdocs/resources/xml/en/consolidated.
xml&xslt=htdocs/resources/xsl/en/taliban-r.xsl.
52. Details of accounts resembling any of the individuals/entities in the lists shall
be reported to FIU-IND apart from advising Ministry of Home Affairs as required
under UAPA notification dated 55February 2, 2021 (Annex II of this Master
Direction).
The procedure laid down in the UAPA Order dated 56February 2, 2021 (Annex II
of this Master Direction) shall be strictly followed and meticulous compliance with
the Order issued by the Government shall be ensured. The list of Nodal Officers
for UAPA is available on the website of Ministry of Home Affairs.
Chapter X
Other Instructions
55. 57Secrecy Obligations and Sharing of Information:
(a) Banks shall maintain secrecy regarding the customer information which arises
out of the contractual relationship between the banker and customer.
(b) Information collected from customers for the purpose of opening of account shall
be treated as confidential and details thereof shall not be divulged for the
38
purpose of cross selling, or for any other purpose without the express permission
of the customer.
(c) While considering the requests for data/information from Government and other
agencies, banks shall satisfy themselves that the information being sought is not
of such a nature as will violate the provisions of the laws relating to secrecy in the
banking transactions.
(d) The exceptions to the said rule shall be as under:
i. Where disclosure is under compulsion of law
ii. Where there is a duty to the public to disclose,
iii. the interest of bank requires disclosure and
iv. Where the disclosure is made with the express or implied consent of
the customer.
(e) NBFCs shall maintain confidentiality of information as provided in Section 45NB
of RBI Act 1934.
56. 58CDD Procedure and sharing KYC information with Central KYC Records
Registry (CKYCR)
(a) Government of India has authorised the Central Registry of Securitisation
Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI), to act as, and
to perform the functions of the CKYCR vide Gazette Notification No. S.O.
3183(E) dated November 26, 2015.
(b) In terms of provision of Rule 9(1A) of PML Rules, the REs shall capture
customer’s KYC records and upload onto CKYCR within 10 days of
commencement of an account-based relationship with the customer.
(c) Operational Guidelines for uploading the KYC data have been released by
CERSAI.
(d) REs shall capture the KYC information for sharing with the CKYCR in the
manner mentioned in the Rules, as per the KYC templates prepared for
‘Individuals’ and ‘Legal Entities’ (LEs), as the case may be. The templates
may be revised from time to time, as may be required and released by
CERSAI.
(e) The ‘live run’ of the CKYCR started from July 15, 2016 in phased manner
beginning with new ‘individual accounts’. Accordingly, Scheduled Commercial
Banks (SCBs) are required to invariably upload the KYC data pertaining to all
new individual accounts opened on or after January 1, 2017, with CKYCR.
39
SCBs were initially allowed time up-to February 1, 2017, for uploading data in
respect of accounts opened during January 2017.
REs other than SCBs were required to start uploading the KYC data
pertaining to all new individual accounts opened on or after from April 1, 2017,
with CKYCR in terms of the provisions of the Rules ibid.
(f) REs shall upload KYC records pertaining to accounts of LEs opened on or
after April 1, 2021, with CKYCR in terms of the provisions of the Rules ibid.
The KYC records have to be uploaded as per the LE Template released by
CERSAI.
(g) Once KYC Identifier is generated by CKYCR, REs shall ensure that the same
is communicated to the individual/LE as the case may be.
(h) In order to ensure that all KYC records are incrementally uploaded on to
CKYCR, REs shall upload/update the KYC data pertaining to accounts of
individual customers and LEs opened prior to the above mentioned dates as
per (e) and (f) respectively at the time of periodic updation as specified in
Section 38 of this Master Direction, or earlier, when the updated KYC
information is obtained/received from the customer.
(i) REs shall ensure that during periodic updation, the customers are migrated to
the current CDD standard.
(j) Where a customer, for the purposes of establishing an account based
relationship, submits a KYC Identifier to a RE, with an explicit consent to
download records from CKYCR, then such RE shall retrieve the KYC records
online from the CKYCR using the KYC Identifier and the customer shall not be
required to submit the same KYC records or information or any other
additional identification documents or details, unless –
(i) there is a change in the information of the customer as existing in the
records of CKYCR;
(ii) the current address of the customer is required to be verified;
(iii) the RE considers it necessary in order to verify the identity or address of
the customer, or to perform enhanced due diligence or to build an
appropriate risk profile of the client.
40
Under FATCA and CRS, REs shall adhere to the provisions of Income Tax Rules
114F, 114G and 114H and determine whether they are a Reporting Financial
Institution as defined in Income Tax Rule 114F and if so, shall take following steps
for complying with the reporting requirements:
(a) Register on the related e-filling portal of Income Tax Department as Reporting
Financial Institutions at the link https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ post login -
-> My Account --> Register as Reporting Financial Institution,
(b) Submit online reports by using the digital signature of the ‘Designated
Director’ by either uploading the Form 61B or ‘NIL’ report, for which, the
schema prepared by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) shall be referred
to.
Explanation: REs shall refer to the spot reference rates published by Foreign
Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI) on their website at
http://www.fedai.org.in/RevaluationRates.aspx for carrying out the due
diligence procedure for the purposes of identifying reportable accounts in
terms of Rule 114H.
(c) Develop Information Technology (IT) framework for carrying out due diligence
procedure and for recording and maintaining the same, as provided in Rule
114H.
(d) Develop a system of audit for the IT framework and compliance with Rules
114F, 114G and 114H of Income Tax Rules.
(e) Constitute a “High Level Monitoring Committee” under the Designated
Director or any other equivalent functionary to ensure compliance.
(f) Ensure compliance with updated instructions/ rules/ guidance notes/ Press
releases/ issued on the subject by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) from
time to time and available on the web site
http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/default.aspx. REs may take note of
the following:
Account payee cheques for any person other than the payee constituent shall not be
collected. Banks shall, at their option, collect account payee cheques drawn for an
amount not exceeding rupees fifty thousand to the account of their customers who
are co-operative credit societies, provided the payees of such cheques are the
constituents of such co-operative credit societies.
61. (a) A Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC) shall be allotted while
entering into new relationships with individual customers as also the existing
customers by banks and NBFCs.
(b) The banks/NBFCs shall, at their option, not issue UCIC to all walk-
in/occasional customers such as buyers of pre-paid instruments/purchasers of
third party products provided it is ensured that there is adequate mechanism to
identify such walk-in customers who have frequent transactions with them and
ensure that they are allotted UCIC.
be ensured that appropriate KYC procedures issued from time to time are duly
applied before introducing new products/services/technologies. Agents used for
marketing of credit cards shall also be subjected to due diligence and KYC measures.
Banks shall have a policy approved by their Boards, or by a committee headed by the
Chairman/CEO/MD to lay down parameters for approving correspondent banking
relationships subject to the following conditions:
(i) Banks shall ensure that respondent banks have KYC/AML policies and
procedures in place and apply enhanced 'due diligence' procedures for
transactions carried out through the correspondent accounts.
43
(a) All cross-border wire transfers including transactions using credit or debit
card shall be accompanied by accurate and meaningful originator information
such as name, address and account number or a unique reference number, as
prevalent in the country concerned in the absence of account.
Exception: Interbank transfers and settlements where both the originator and
beneficiary are banks or financial institutions shall be exempt from the above
requirements.
(b) Domestic wire transfers of rupees fifty thousand and above shall be
accompanied by originator information such as name, address and account
number.
(c) Customer Identification shall be made if a customer is intentionally
structuring wire transfer below rupees fifty thousand to avoid reporting or
monitoring. In case of non-cooperation from the customer, efforts shall be
made to establish his identity and STR shall be made to FIU-IND.
(d) Complete originator information relating to qualifying wire transfers shall be
preserved at least for a period of five years by the ordering bank.
(e) A bank processing as an intermediary element of a chain of wire transfers
shall ensure that all originator information accompanying a wire transfer is
retained with the transfer.
(f) The receiving intermediary bank shall transfer full originator information
accompanying a cross-border wire transfer and preserve the same for at
least five years if the same cannot be sent with a related domestic wire
transfer, due to technical limitations.
(g) All the information on the originator of wire transfers shall be immediately made
available to appropriate law enforcement and/or prosecutorial authorities on
receiving such requests.
(h) Effective risk-based procedures to identify wire transfers lacking complete
originator information shall be in place at a beneficiary bank.
(i) Beneficiary bank shall report transaction lacking complete originator
information to FIU-IND as a suspicious transaction.
(j) The beneficiary bank shall seek detailed information of the fund remitter with the
ordering bank and if the ordering bank fails to furnish information on the
44
Further, the name of the purchaser shall be incorporated on the face of the demand
draft, pay order, banker’s cheque, etc., by the issuing bank. These instructions shall
take effect for such instruments issued on or after September 15, 2018.
REs acting as agents while selling third party products as per regulations in force
from time to time shall comply with the following aspects for the purpose of these
directions:
(a) the identity and address of the walk-in customer shall be verified for
transactions above rupees fifty thousand as required under Section 13(e) of
this Directions.
(b) transaction details of sale of third party products and related records shall be
maintained as prescribed in Chapter VII Section 46.
(c) AML software capable of capturing, generating and analysing alerts for the
purpose of filing CTR/STR in respect of transactions relating to third party
products with customers including walk-in customers shall be available.
(d) transactions involving rupees fifty thousand and above shall be undertaken
only by:
• debit to customers’ account or against cheques; and
45
iii. ensure that ‘At par’ cheques issued are crossed ‘account payee’
irrespective of the amount involved.
PPI issuers shall ensure that the instructions issued by Department of Payment and
Settlement System of Reserve Bank of India through their Master Direction are
strictly adhered to.
46
Chapter XI
Repeal Provisions
72. With the issue of these directions, the instructions / guidelines contained in the
circulars mentioned in the Appendix, issued by the Reserve Bank stand repealed.
73. All approvals / acknowledgements given under the above circulars shall be
deemed as given under these directions.
74. All the repealed circulars are deemed to have been in force prior to the coming
into effect of these directions.
47
60Annex I
A. The RE shall develop an application for digital KYC process which shall be made
available at customer touch points for undertaking KYC of their customers and the
KYC process shall be undertaken only through this authenticated application of the
REs.
B. The access of the Application shall be controlled by the REs and it should be
ensured that the same is not used by unauthorized persons. The Application shall be
accessed only through login-id and password or Live OTP or Time OTP controlled
mechanism given by REs to its authorized officials.
C. The customer, for the purpose of KYC, shall visit the location of the authorized
official of the RE or vice-versa. The original OVD shall be in possession of the
customer.
D. The RE must ensure that the Live photograph of the customer is taken by the
authorized officer and the same photograph is embedded in the Customer
Application Form (CAF). Further, the system Application of the RE shall put a water-
mark in readable form having CAF number, GPS coordinates, authorized official’s
name, unique employee Code (assigned by REs) and Date (DD:MM:YYYY) and time
stamp (HH:MM:SS) on the captured live photograph of the customer.
E. The Application of the RE shall have the feature that only live photograph of the
customer is captured and no printed or video-graphed photograph of the customer is
captured. The background behind the customer while capturing live photograph
should be of white colour and no other person shall come into the frame while
capturing the live photograph of the customer.
G. The live photograph of the customer and his original documents shall be captured
in proper light so that they are clearly readable and identifiable.
48
H. Thereafter, all the entries in the CAF shall be filled as per the documents and
information furnished by the customer. In those documents where Quick Response
(QR) code is available, such details can be auto-populated by scanning the QR code
instead of manual filing the details. For example, in case of physical Aadhaar/e-
Aadhaar downloaded from UIDAI where QR code is available, the details like name,
gender, date of birth and address can be auto-populated by scanning the QR
available on Aadhaar/e-Aadhaar.
I. Once the above mentioned process is completed, a One Time Password (OTP)
message containing the text that ‘Please verify the details filled in form before
sharing OTP’ shall be sent to customer’s own mobile number. Upon successful
validation of the OTP, it will be treated as customer signature on CAF. However, if
the customer does not have his/her own mobile number, then mobile number of
his/her family/relatives/known persons may be used for this purpose and be clearly
mentioned in CAF. In any case, the mobile number of authorized officer registered
with the RE shall not be used for customer signature. The RE must check that the
mobile number used in customer signature shall not be the mobile number of the
authorized officer.
J. The authorized officer shall provide a declaration about the capturing of the live
photograph of customer and the original document. For this purpose, the authorized
official shall be verified with One Time Password (OTP) which will be sent to his
mobile number registered with the RE. Upon successful OTP validation, it shall be
treated as authorized officer’s signature on the declaration. The live photograph of
the authorized official shall also be captured in this authorized officer’s declaration.
K. Subsequent to all these activities, the Application shall give information about the
completion of the process and submission of activation request to activation officer of
the RE, and also generate the transaction-id/reference-id number of the process.
The authorized officer shall intimate the details regarding transaction-id/reference-id
number to customer for future reference.
L. The authorized officer of the RE shall check and verify that:- (i) information
available in the picture of document is matching with the information entered by
authorized officer in CAF. (ii) live photograph of the customer matches with the photo
available in the document.; and (iii) all of the necessary details in CAF including
mandatory field are filled properly.;
49
Banks may use the services of Business Correspondent (BC) for this process.
50
Annex II
Section 51A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) reads
as under:-
"51A. For the prevention of, and for coping with terrorist activities, the Central
Government shall have power to —
3.1 The Joint Secretary (CTCR), Ministry of Home Affairs would be the Central
[designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA [Telephone Number: 011-23092548, 011-
23092551 (Fax), email address: jsctcr-mha@gov.in].
appoint a UAPA Nodal Officer and communicate the name and contact details to the
Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA.
3.4 All the States and UTs shall appoint a UAPA Nodal Officer preferably of the rank
of the Principal Secretary/Secretary, Home Department and communicate the name
and contact details to the Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA.
3.5 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall maintain the
consolidated list of all UAPA Nodal Officers and forward the list to all other UAPA
Nodal Officers, in July every year or as and when the list is updated and shall cause
the amended list of UAPA Nodal Officers circulated to all the Nodal Officers.
3.6 The Financial Regulators shall forward the consolidated list of UAPA Nodal
Officers to the banks, stock exchanges/depositories, intermediaries regulated by
SEBI and insurance companies.
3.7 The Regulators of the real estate agents, dealers in precious metals & stones
(DPMS) and DNFBPs shall forward the consolidated list of UAPA Nodal Officers to
the real estate agents, dealers in precious metals & stones (DPMS) and DNFBPs.
4.1 The Ministry of External Affairs shall update the list of individuals and entities
subject to the UN sanction measures whenever changes are made in the lists by the
UNSC 1267 Committee pertaining to Al Qaida and Da’esh and the UNSC 1988
Committee pertaining to Taliban. On such revisions, the Ministry of External Affairs
would electronically forward the changes without delay to the designated Nodal
Officers in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, CBIC, Financial Regulators, FIU–IND,
CTCR Division and Foreigners Division in MHA.
4.2 The Financial Regulators shall forward the list of designated persons as
mentioned in Para 4(i) above, without delay to the banks, stock exchanges/
depositories, intermediaries regulated by SEBI and insurance companies.
4.3 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall forward the
designated list as mentioned in Para 4(i) above, to all the UAPA Nodal Officers of
States/UTs without delay.
4.4 The UAPA Nodal Officer in Foreigners Division of MHA shall forward the
designated list as mentioned in Para 4(i) above, to the immigration authorities and
security agencies without delay.
4.5 The Regulators of the real estate agents, dealers in precious metals & stones
(DPMS) and DNFBPs shall forward the list of designated persons as mentioned in
Para 4(i) above, to the real estate agents, dealers in precious metals & stones
(DPMS) and DNFBPs without delay.
5.1 The Financial Regulators will issue necessary guidelines to banks, stock
exchanges/depositories, intermediaries regulated by the SEBI and insurance
companies requiring them -
(i) To maintain updated designated lists in electronic form and run a check on the
given parameters on a daily basis to verify whether individuals or entities listed in the
Schedule to the Order, hereinafter, referred to as designated individuals/entities are
holding any funds, financial assets or economic resources or related services held in
the form of bank accounts, stocks, Insurance policies etc., with them.
(ii) In case, the particulars of any of their customers match with the particulars of
designated individuals/entities, the banks, stock exchanges/depositories,
intermediaries regulated by SEBI, insurance companies shall immediately inform
full particulars of the funds, financial assets or economic resources or related
services held in the form of bank accounts, stocks or Insurance policies etc., held by
such customer on their books to the Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the
UAPA, at Fax No.011-23092551 and also convey over telephone No. 011-
23092548. The particulars apart from being sent by post shall necessarily be
conveyed on email id: jsctcr-mha@gov.in.
(iv) In case, the match of any of the customers with the particulars of designated
individuals/entities is beyond doubt, the banks, stock exchanges/depositories,
intermediaries regulated by SEBI and insurance companies shall prevent such
designated persons from conducting financial transactions, under intimation to the
Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA at Fax No.011-23092551 and also
convey over telephone No.011-23092548. The particulars apart from being sent by
post should necessarily be conveyed on e-mail id: jsctcr-mha@gov.in, without delay.
5.3 In case, the results of the verification indicate that the properties are
owned by or are held for the benefit of the designated individuals/entities, an orders
to freeze these assets under Section 51A of the UAPA would be issued by the
53
Central [designated] nodal officer for the UAPA without delay and conveyed
electronically to the concerned bank branch, depository and insurance company
under intimation to respective Regulators and FIU-IND. The Central [designated]
nodal officer for the UAPA shall also forward a copy thereof to all the Principal
Secretaries/Secretaries, Home Department of the States/UTs and all UAPA nodal
officers in the country, so that any individual or entity may be prohibited from
making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or related services
available for the benefit of the designated individuals/ entities or any other person
engaged in or suspected to be engaged in terrorism. The Central [designated]
Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall also forward a copy of the order to all Directors
General of Police/ Commissioners of Police of all States/UTs for initiating action
under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
6.1 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall electronically forward
the designated list to the UAPA Nodal Officers of all States and UTs with request to
have the names of the designated individuals/entities, on the given parameters,
verified from the records of the office of the Registrar performing the work of
registration of immovable properties in their respective jurisdiction, without delay.
6.3 The UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT may cause such inquiry to be
conducted by the State Police so as to ensure that the particulars sent by the
Registrar performing the work of registering immovable properties are indeed of
these designated individuals/entities. This verification shall be completed without
delay and shall be conveyed within 24 hours of the verification, if it matches with the
particulars of the designated individual/entity to the Central [designated] Nodal
Officer for the UAPA at the given Fax, telephone numbers and also on the email id.
6.4 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA may also have the
verification conducted by the Central Agencies. This verification would be completed
expeditiously.
6.5 In case, the results of the verification indicates that the particulars match
with those of designated individuals/entities, an order under Section 51A of the
UAPA shall be issued by the Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA without
delay and conveyed to the concerned Registrar performing the work of registering
54
immovable properties and to FIU-IND under intimation to the concerned UAPA Nodal
Officer of the State/UT.
6.6 Further, the UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT shall cause to monitor the
transactions/ accounts of the designated individual/entity so as to prohibit any
individual or entity from making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or
related services available for the benefit of the individuals or entities listed in the
Schedule to the Order or any other person engaged in or suspected to be engaged
in terrorism. The UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT shall, upon becoming aware of
any transactions and attempts by third party immediately bring to the notice of the
DGP/Commissioner of Police of the State/UT for initiating action under the
provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
(i) The Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), inter alia,
include casinos, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals/stones (DPMS),
lawyers/notaries, accountants, company service providers and societies/ firms and
non-profit organizations. The list of designated entities/individuals should be
circulated to all DNFBPs by the concerned Regulators without delay.
(ii) The CBIC shall advise the dealers of precious metals/stones (DPMS) that if any
designated individual/entity approaches them for sale/purchase of precious
metals/stones or attempts to undertake such transactions the dealer should not carry
out such transaction and without delay inform the CBIC, who in turn follow the
similar procedure as laid down in the paragraphs 6.2 to 6.5 above.
(iii) The UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT shall advise the Registrar of Societies/
Firms/ non-profit organizations that if any designated individual/ entity is a
shareholder/ member/ partner/ director/ settler/ trustee/ beneficiary/ beneficial owner
of any society/ partnership firm/ trust/ non-profit organization, then the Registrar
should inform the UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT without delay, who will, in
turn, follow the procedure as laid down in the paragraphs 6.2 to 6.5 above. The
Registrar should also be advised that no societies/ firms/ non-profit organizations
should be allowed to be registered, if any of the designated individual/ entity is a
director/ partner/ office bearer/ trustee/ settler/ beneficiary or beneficial owner of
such juridical person and in case such request is received, then the Registrar shall
inform the UAPA Nodal Officer of the concerned State/UT without delay, who will, in
turn, follow the procedure laid down in the paragraphs 6.2 to 6.5 above.
(iv) The UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT shall also advise appropriate
department of the State/UT, administering the operations relating to Casinos, to
ensure that the designated individuals/ entities should not be allowed to own or have
beneficial ownership in any Casino operation. Further, if any designated individual/
entity visits or participates in any game in the Casino and/ or if any assets of such
designated individual/ entity is with the Casino operator, and of the particulars of any
client matches with the particulars of designated individuals/ entities, the Casino
55
owner shall inform the UAPA Nodal Officer of the State/UT without delay, who shall
in turn follow the procedure laid down in paragraph 6.2 to 6.5 above.
(v) The Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall issue an appropriate order to the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India
and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) requesting them to sensitize
their respective members to the provisions of Section 51A of UAPA, so that if any
designated individual/entity approaches them, for entering/ investing in the financial
sector and/or immovable property, or they are holding or managing any assets/
resources of Designated individual/ entities, then the member shall convey the
complete details of such designated individual/ entity to UAPA Nodal Officer in the
Ministry of Corporate Affairs who shall in turn follow the similar procedure as laid
down in paragraph 6.2 to 6.5 above.
(vi) The members of these institutes should also be sensitized that if they have
arranged for or have been approached for incorporation/ formation/ registration of
any company, limited liability firm, partnership firm, society, trust, association where
any of designated individual/ entity is a director/ shareholder/ member of a company/
society/ association or partner in a firm or settler/ trustee or beneficiary of a trust or a
beneficial owner of a juridical person, then the member of the institute should not
incorporate/ form/ register such juridical person and should convey the complete
details of such designated individual/ entity to UAPA Nodal Officer in the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs who shall in turn follow the similar procedure as laid down in
paragraph 6.2 to 6.5 above.
(vii) In addition, the member of the ICSI be sensitized that if he/she is Company
Secretary or is holding any managerial position where any of designated individual/
entity is a Director and/or Shareholder or having beneficial ownership of any such
juridical person then the member should convey the complete details of such
designated individual/ entity to UAPA Nodal Officer in the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs who shall in turn follow the similar procedure as laid down in paragraph 6.2 to
6.5 above.
(viii) The Registrar of Companies (ROC) may be advised that in case any
designated individual/ entity is a shareholder/ director/ whole time director in any
company registered with ROC or beneficial owner of such company, then the ROC
should convey the complete details of such designated individual/ entity, as per the
procedure mentioned in paragraph 8 to 10 above. This procedure shall also be
followed in case of any designated individual/ entity being a partner of Limited
Liabilities Partnership Firms registered with ROC or beneficial owner of such firms.
Further the ROC may be advised that no company or limited liability Partnership firm
shall be allowed to be registered if any of the designated individual/ entity is the
Director/ Promoter/ Partner or beneficial owner of such company or firm and in case
such a request received the ROC should inform the UAPA Nodal Officer in the
Ministry of Corporate Affairs who in turn shall follow the similar procedure as laid
down in paragraph 6.2 to 6.5 above.
56
8.1 The U.N. Security Council Resolution No.1373 of 2001 obligates countries to
freeze without delay the funds or other assets of persons who commit, or attempt to
commit, terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the commission of terrorist acts; of
entities owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons; and of persons
and entities acting on behalf of, or at the direction of such persons and entities,
including funds or other assets derived or generated from property owned or
controlled, directly or indirectly, by such persons and associated persons and
entities. Each individual country has the authority to designate the persons and
entities that should have their funds or other assets frozen. Additionally, to ensure
that effective cooperation is developed among countries, countries should examine
and give effect to, if appropriate, the actions initiated under the freezing mechanisms
of other countries.
8.2 To give effect to the requests of foreign countries under the U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1373, the Ministry of External Affairs shall examine the requests
made by the foreign countries and forward it electronically, with their comments, to
the Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA for freezing of funds or other
assets.
8.3 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall cause the request to
be examined without delay, so as to satisfy itself that on the basis of applicable legal
principles, the requested designation is supported by reasonable grounds, or a
reasonable basis, to suspect or believe that the proposed designee is a terrorist, one
who finances terrorism or a terrorist organization, and upon his satisfaction, request
would be electronically forwarded to the Nodal Officers in Regulators, FIU-IND and
to the Nodal Officers of the States/UTs. The proposed designee, as mentioned
above would be treated as designated individuals/entities.
9. Upon receipt of the requests by these Nodal Officers from the Central
[designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA, the similar procedure as enumerated at
paragraphs 5 and 6 above shall be followed.
The freezing orders shall be issued without prior notice to the designated
persons involved.
(a) necessary for basic expenses, including payments for foodstuff, rent or
mortgage, medicines and medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums and public
utility charges, or exclusively for payment of reasonable professional fees and
reimbursement of incurred expenses associated with the provision of legal services
or fees or service charges for routine holding or maintenance of frozen funds or
other financial assets or economic resources, after notification by the MEA of the
57
10.2. The addition may be allowed to accounts of the designated individuals/ entities
subject to the provisions of paragraph 10 of:
(b) payments due under contracts, agreements or obligations that arose prior
to the date on which those accounts became subject to the provisions of resolutions
1267 (1999), 1333 (2000), or 1390 (2002),
Provided that any such interest, other earnings and payments continue to be
subject to those provisions;
11.1 Any individual or entity, if it has evidence to prove that the freezing of
funds, financial assets or economic resources or related services, owned/held by
them has been inadvertently frozen, they shall move an application giving the
requisite evidence, in writing, to the concerned bank, stock exchanges/ depositories,
intermediaries regulated by SEBI, insurance companies, Registrar of Immovable
Properties, ROC, Regulators of DNFBPs and the UAPA Nodal Officers of State/UT.
11.3 The Central [designated] Nodal Officer for the UAPA shall cause such
verification, as may be required on the basis of the evidence furnished by the
individual/entity, and, if satisfied, he/she shall pass an order, without delay,
unfreezing the funds, financial assets or economic resources or related services,
owned/held by such applicant, under intimation to the concerned bank, stock
exchanges/depositories, intermediaries regulated by SEBI, insurance company,
Registrar of Immovable Properties, ROC, Regulators of DNFBPs and the UAPA
Nodal Officer of State/UT. However, if it is not possible for any reason to pass an
Order unfreezing the assets within 5 working days, the Central [designated] Nodal
Officer for the UAPA shall inform the applicant expeditiously.
58
12.1 As regards prevention of entry into or transit through India of the designated
individuals, the UAPA Nodal Officer in the Foreigners Division of MHA, shall forward
the designated lists to the immigration authorities and security agencies with a
request to prevent the entry into or the transit through India. The order shall take
place without prior notice to the designated individuals/entities.
12.2 The immigration authorities shall ensure strict compliance of the order and also
communicate the details of entry or transit through India of the designated
individuals as prevented by them to the UAPA Nodal Officer in Foreigners Division
of MHA.
15. All concerned are requested to ensure strict compliance of this order.
(Ashutosh Agnihotri)
Joint Secretary to the Government of India
To,
Territories
13) Directors General of Police of all States & Union Territories
14) Director General of Police, National Investigation Agency, New Delhi.
15) Commissioner of Police, Delhi.
16) Joint Secretary (Foreigners), Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi.
17) Joint Secretary (Capital Markets), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry
of Finance, New Delhi.
18) Joint Secretary (Revenue), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance,
New Delhi.
19) Director (FIU-IND), New Delhi.
Annex III
KYC documents for eligible FPIs under PIS
FPI Type
Document Type Category I Category II Category III
Constitutive Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory
Documents
(Memorandu
m and
Articles of
Association,
Certificate of
Incorporation
etc.)
Proof of Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory
Address (Power of (Power of other than
Attorney {PoA} Attorney Power of
mentioning the mentioning the Attorney
Entity Level address is address is
acceptable as acceptable as
address proof) address proof)
PAN 61 Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory
Financial Exempted * Exempted * Mandatory
Data
SEBI Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory
Registration
Certificate
Board Exempted * Mandatory Mandatory
Resolution
@@
List Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory
Proof of Exempted * Exempted * Entity
Identity declares* on
Senior letter head
Manageme full name,
nt nationality,
(Whole date of birth
Time or submits
Directors/ photo identity
Partners/ proof
Trustees/ Proof of Exempted * Exempted * Declaration
etc.) Address on Letter
Head *
Photographs Exempted Exempted Exempted *
61
* Not required while opening the bank account. However, FPIs concerned may
submit an undertaking that upon demand by Regulators/Law Enforcement Agencies
the relative document/s would be submitted to the bank.
@@ FPIs from certain jurisdictions where the practice of passing Board Resolution
for the purpose of opening bank accounts etc. is not in vogue, may submit ‘Power of
Attorney granted to Global Custodian/Local Custodian in lieu of Board Resolution’
62
Appendix
List of Circulars or part thereof repealed with the issuance of Master Direction
1
Inserted vide Amendment dated April 20, 2018.
2
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
3
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
4
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
5
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
6
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
7
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
8
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
9
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
10
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
11
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
12
Amended vide amendment dated May 10, 2021
13
Amended vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 538(E) regarding PML Second amendment Rules dated June 1, 2017. Before
amendment, it read as: “Customer Due Diligence (CDD)” means identifying and verifying the customer and the beneficial owner
using ‘Officially Valid Documents’ as a ‘proof of identity’ and a ‘proof of address”.
14
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
15
Inserted vide amendment dated April 20, 2020
16
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
17
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
18
Amended vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 544(E) regarding PML Second amendment Rules 2015 dated July 7, 2015. Before
amendment, it read as: “Necessary information of such customers’ due diligence carried out by the third party is immediately
obtained by REs”.
19
Deleted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
20
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
21
Amended vide amendment dated May 10, 2021
22
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
23
Amended vide amendment dated May 10, 2021
24
Deleted vide amendment dated April 20, 2018. Deleted portion to read as: In case the person who proposes to open an
account does not have an OVD as ‘proof of address’, such person shall provide OVD of the relative as provided at sub-section
77 of Section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013, read with Rule 4 of Companies (Specification of definitions details) Rules, 2014,
with whom the person is staying, as the ‘proof of address’ Explanation: A declaration from the relative that the said person is a
relative and is staying with him/her shall be obtained.
25
Deleted vide amendment dated April 20, 2018. Deleted portion to read as: “In cases where a customer categorised as ‘low
risk’, expresses inability to complete the documentation requirements on account of any reason that the REs consider to be
genuine, and where it is essential not to interrupt the normal conduct of business, REs shall, at their option, complete the
verification of identity of the customer within a period of six months from the date of establishment of the relationship.”
26
Deleted vide amendment dated April 20, 2018. Deleted portion to read as: In respect of customers who are categorised as
‘low risk’ and are not able to produce any of the OVDs mentioned at Section 3(a)(vi) of Chapter I and where ‘simplified
procedure’ is applied, REs shall, accept any one document from each of the two additional sets of documents listed under the
two provisos of sub-Rule 2(1)(d). Explanation: During the periodic review, if the ‘low risk’ category customer for whom
simplified procedure is applied, is re-categorised as ‘moderate or ‘’high’ risk category, then REs shall obtain one of the six
OVDs listed at Section 3(a)(vi) of these Directions for proof of identity and proof of address immediately. In the event such a
customer fails to submit such an OVD, REs shall initiate action as envisaged in Section 39 of these Directions.
27
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
28
Inserted vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 1038(E) regarding PML Third amendment Rules dated August 21, 2017.
29
Inserted vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 381(E) dated May 28, 2019.
30
Inserted vide amendment dated March 31, 2020.
31
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
32
Deleted vide amendment dated April 20, 2018 and shifted to Section 10. Deleted/shifted portion to read as: “If an existing
KYC compliant customer of a RE desires to open another account with the same RE, there shall be no need for a fresh CDD
exercise.”
74
33
Amended vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 538(E) regarding PML Second amendment Rules dated June 1, 2017. Deleted
portion of Section 26 is as follows: “and a self-declaration from the account holder about his/her current address is obtained in
such cases.
34
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
35
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
36
Inserted vide amendment dated April 20, 2018.
37
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
38
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
39
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
40
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
41
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
42
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
43
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
44
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
45
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
46
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
47
Inserted vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
48
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
49
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
50
Amended vide amendment dated May 10, 2021
51
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
52
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
53
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
54
Amended vide amendment dated April 1, 2021
55
Amended vide amendment dated March 23, 2021
56
Amended vide amendment dated March 23, 2021
57
Amended vide amendment dated May 29, 2019.
58
Amended vide amendment dated December 18, 2020
59
Amended vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
60
Inserted vide amendment dated January 9, 2020.
61
Amended vide amendment dated April 20, 2018. Deleted Portion of read as: ‘Card’