Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), announced on 11 October that the market watchdog is simplifying regulatory procedures to facilitate NRI investments in Indian equities markets. In order to eliminate the need for NRIs to return to India in order to fulfil know-your-customer (KYC) standards, the regulator is attempting to streamline the process.
At a function hosted by the Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers’ Forum on October 11, Pandey stated that SEBI has not yet created a simple and safe KYC access system for NRIs to enable their involvement in the securities market. This will be the regulating body’s first priority.
SEBI Collaborating with RBI and UIDAI
Pandey stated that SEBI is working with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to develop a system that would allow NRIs to complete their KYC verification over video conversations rather than needing to return home. Notably, there are more than 3.5 crore non-resident Indians (NRIs) worldwide, and India is the biggest beneficiary of remittances worldwide, with $135 billion received in FY25.
According to Pandey, SEBI’s “immediate goal” is to make the FPI registration process quick and easy by making it entirely portal-based, because the agency previously agreed in September to establish a single window for trusted foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) with less stringent compliance standards. In order to put it into effect, he continued, SEBI is already consulting its stakeholders.
When it comes to enabling registration, SEBI wants to be among the best in the world. To enable digital registration, SEBI, RBI, and the Income Tax Department would need to collaborate, according to Pandey, who characterised the project as a “process issue” rather than one resulting from hazards. Speaking to the broker community, Pandey stated that SEBI will finish revising broker laws by the end of December.
SEBI to Device Framework to Prevent Cybercrime
According to Pandey, SEBI will speak with market infrastructure organisations before issuing instructions on keeping an “air gap” in order to improve cybersecurity. He went on to say that SEBI has put in place a redundancy model for clearing corporations, which enables operations to continue without interruption in the event that one clearing corporation fails, and that market infrastructure institutions are being put to the test through live disaster recovery drills.
“As with stockbrokers, we are also looking at implementing a safety net at a depository participant in the event of an outage,” Pandey stated. He added that the data warehouse system has been redesigned to create new role-based alerts to detect fraudulent trades in bulk deals and identify pump-and-dump trends. He also mentioned that SEBI is moving from reactive supervision to predictive oversight in the surveillance space.
As per Pandey, high-frequency and algorithmic trading have grown significantly in recent years and now make up a sizable portion of volumes in the derivatives and equity markets.
Quick Shots
•SEBI
to simplify NRI investment norms to make it easier for Non-Resident Indians
to invest in Indian equity markets.
•NRIs
may soon be able to complete KYC verification via video calls, eliminating
the need to visit India.
•3.5
crore NRIs globally — India remains the top recipient of remittances at $135
billion in FY25.
•SEBI
aims to make foreign portfolio investment registration fully online and
faster.
According to an official announcement cited by news agency PTI, billionaire Elon Musk’s satellite internet service business Starlink would use Aadhaar authentication to validate Indian consumers before onboarding them. Starlink has been given permission by the government to start providing satellite-based broadband services domestically.
As per the release, Starlink Satellite Communication Pvt Ltd, a satellite-based internet provider, has been onboarded by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). For customer verification, Starlink will adopt Aadhaar Authentication, which will streamline, secure, and simplify the procedure.
Why Starlink-Aadhaar Collaboration Matters?
In India, Starlink can currently enrol about 20 lakh consumers, according to an official estimate. The onboarding of Starlink with Aadhaar identification, according to the statement, represents a potent synergy: India’s reliable digital identity collaborating with international satellite technology.
In addition to providing high-speed internet to homes, businesses, and institutions, Aadhaar e-KYC will make user onboarding easier and guarantee regulatory compliance.
In front of UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar, UIDAI Deputy Director General Manish Bhardwaj, and Starlink India Director Parnil Urdhwareshe, Starlink Satellite Communication was designated as a sub-authentication and sub-eKYC user agency. To provide its services within the nation, Starlink has partnered with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Starlink India Internet Speed and User Limitations
The Elon Musk-led satellite internet company can offer speeds of up to 200 Mbps, according to Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, the Minister of State for Rural Development and Telecommunications.
Impact on Telecom Players Jio, Airtel, and BSNL
According to PTI, the government doesn’t think this will affect other telecom providers. “Starlink can only serve 20 lakh customers in India while providing speeds of up to 200 Mbps. “Telecom services won’t be impacted by it,” Minister Pemmasani told the news agency during a BSNL review meeting.
Customers in rural and distant areas of India, a sizable market for the state-owned telecom carrier BSNL, are the target market for the company’s satellite internet services.
Starlink’s Role in Rural Connectivity in India
According to earlier reports from a number of media outlets, Starlink intends to use its satellite technology to expand the local telecom industry and address connection issues in rural and isolated parts of India.
Quick
Shots
•Will use Aadhaar Authentication &
e-KYC for Indian customer verification.
•Starlink expected to enroll up to 20
lakh customers initially.
•Combines India’s digital identity
system (Aadhaar) with global satellite internet tech.
•Ensures secure, simplified, and
regulatory-compliant customer onboarding.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority establish under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016 from 12th July 2016 by the Government of India, under the ministry of Electronic and Information Technology. Prior to its establishment as a statuary authority, UIDAI was functioning as an attached office of the then Planning commission and was established a decade ago on 28th January 2009.
The logo of Aadhaar
UIDAI was created with the objective of issuing a Unique Identification Number (UID), named as Aadhaar to the citizens of India. The UID had to be robust enough so it would eliminate duplicate and fake identities and also verify and authenticate in an easy, cost effective manner. The authority has so far managed to issue more than 124 crore Aadhaar numbers to the residents of India.
After the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI is responsible for operation and management of all stages of Aadhaar life cycle, developing the policy, procedure. And also to systematically issue Aadhaar numbers to individuals and perform authentication and the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
The vision of UIDAI is to empower resident of India with a unique identity and digital platform to authenticate anytime and anywhere.
The mission of UIDAI are
To provide for good governance, efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to residents of India through assigning of unique identity numbers.
To develop policy, procedure and system for issuing Aadhaar number to residents of India, who request for same by submitting their demographic information and biometric information by undergoing the process of enrolment.
To develop policy, procedure and systems for Aadhaar holders for updating and authenticating their digital identity.
Ensure availability, scalability and resilience of the technology infrastructure.
Build a long term sustainable organization to carry forward the vision and values of the UIDAI.
To ensure security and confidentiality of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
To ensure compliance of Aadhaar Act by all individual and agencies in letter and spirit.
To make regulations & rules consistent with the Aadhaar Act, for carrying out the provisions of the Aadhaar Act.
An example of the details that Aadhar card contains
Some of the main functions of UIDAI are according to the Aadhar Act of 2016 are:
Specifying the regulations, demographic and biometric information required for enrolment and the process of verification.
Appointing of one or more entities to operate the Central Identities Data Repository
Generating and assigning Aadhaar numbers to individuals and authenticating Aadhar number.
Maintaining and updating the information of individuals in the CIDR in such manner as may be specified by the regulations
Omitting and deactivating of an Aadhaar number and information as specified by regulations.
Specifying the manner of use of Aadhaar numbers for the purpose of providing or availing benefits, services and other purposes for which Aadhar numbers may be used.
Calling for records and information conducting inspections, inquiries and audit operations for the purposes of Aadhaar Act of CIDR.
Data management, security protocols and other technology safeguards under Aadhaar Act.
Levying and collection of the fees or authorizing the registrar, enrolling agencies or other service providers to collect such fees for the services provided by them.
Setting up of facilitation centers and grievance mechanism for redressal of grievances of individuals, Registrars, enrolling agencies and other service providers.
Biometric Challenges – No single biometric modality is sufficient for uniqueness guarantee. As it needs facial photo, eight to ten fingerprints and possibly iris. The problems with that is that significant percentage of the population will not have a desired biometric pattern: children below 8 years old. Enrollment “kit” that contains everything for a mobile unit. Simple training of enrollee such as video when they are waiting in line for enrollment.
Rural Biometric Challenges – Fingerprint is socially acceptable, but it requires physical contact. Manual labor, dirty hands, assistance needed to capture prints result in large number of errors or missing prints. When it comes to iris scan it is better technology because it is touch less, but needs camera redesign for rural environment. Need improved user friendly capture to enroll in the open. Its needs in situation monitoring for enrollment and continuous monitoring.
Biometric De – Duplication – Assuming 10 fingerprints for each and every person. A duplication search requires every fingerprint to be compared against entire database. Assuming a peak load of 1 million enrollments/day at database size of 800 million.
Architecture Challenges – The architecture challenges includes distributed computing, cloud computing and virtualization, in memory databases and optimizing for computation and network.
Network Infrastructure – Since rural internet connectivity is very poor the government must work on getting a better mobile network for the rural areas. Enrollment client must work in offline mode and batch upload when connected. It should ride on credit card POS networks.
Security and Fraud Detection – It make it secure for client, the server must be able to detect and prevent intruders. It should detect fraud on audit trails. Make automatic alerts like credit card alerts based on suspicious patterns.
Managing multiple risks – It manages multiple risks such as Adoption, Enrolment, Political, technology, scale, sustainability, privacy and security.
Over 90% of Indian adults are now enrolled in the Aadhaar program making the total about 1.2 million people. It has become one of the pillars which people debate on the role of government in our lives. The value of privacy and how we should safeguard it, how public policy should be shaped and implemented and whether technology is being truly harnessed in the best interests of the citizens.
The impact of Aadhaar from the past 10 years
Identity is important
Aadhaar enrolment has been de- linked from a person’s nationality and is instead available to all residents. In order to be eligible for enrolment an applicant does not have to prove their Indian citizenship, they must only provide proof of residence for at least 182 days. The Aadhaar has identity first approach and the number itself does not establish nationality or confer any rights or benefits and only establishes who the person is.
Focus on Inclusion
A central debate in India over Aadhaar has been on its claims towards inclusion. It points out vulnerable section of the population as there are many people that have been excluded from individual legal identity, now have an access to a nationally and widely recognized form of identification e.g. the poor migrants, tribal population in remote areas, transgender individuals and the homeless.
Make privacy a priority
The Aadhaar was implemented without a framework of data protection and privacy legislation in place, and it is missing in India even today. As a result, while the central repositories of UIDAI have not been breached, the demographic information collected for issuing Aadhaar cards, and the Aadhaar number itself, have been subject to multiple disclosures by government bodies as well as through fraudulent means.
There was a lack of clarity on the status of information and the rules on how it was to collected, handled and disclosed. Limited data collection for specific purposes and controls on the retention of data, must be incorporated into the program, in the design of the technical system and also in the rules for every partner and agency related in handling identity related data.
The Aadhaar program costs US $1.16 per enrolment which is the lowest of any identification program in the world. In other parts of the world the costs are as high as US $6 for enrolment and up to US $5 per identity card, which developing countries cannot afford. This makes the system dependent on connectivity for authentication and enrolment which is difficult to adopt for countries with lower mobile and internet usage.
Which is why UIDAI introduced offline verification in 2018 through a digitally signed copy of demographic information on a QR code on the Aadhaar card. It enabled local authentication without connecting to the centralized database and also addressed the issue of fraudulent Aadhaar cards.
Financial Inclusion
When trying to assess the impact of the Aadhaar system, 2 instances are very significant the PDS, where the benefits are disputable and the financial services where its role is to accelerate KYC process in opening bank accounts. The Reserve Bank of India in 2011 recommended the use of the Aadhaar based e-KYC process for opening small bank accounts.
This received a boost in 2014 with the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana, through which over 300 million accounts were opened using eKYC. An uptick in account usage was observed once cash benefits were directly transferred to these accounts, suggesting that the lack of an initial balance might be a deterrent
Nandan M. Nilekani, is the co-founder of Infosys. He is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. Nicknamed as ‘Aadhaar Man‘, he was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He is the tech magnate, who still has shares in Infosys, has backed Fundamentum, a $100 million venture capital fund aimed at technology companies.
Nilekani was born on 2nd June, 1995 in Bangalore, Karnataka. His family belongs to KonkaniGoud Saraswat Brahmin community which is originally from Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.
He did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and St. Joseph High School Dharwad. Because of his father’s frequent job transfers and subsequent relocation he had to change schools. After that he got his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai in 1978.
His first language is Konkani. In addition to Konkani, he speaks Kannada fluently along with English, Marathi, and Hindi
Nandan M. Nilekani- Family
His father, Mohan Rao Nilekani worked as a general manager of Mysore and Minerva. He had subscribed to Fabina Socialist ideals which influenced Nilekani in his early life.
His mother’s name is Durga Nilekani.
He also has an elder brother, Vijay Nilekani who works in the Nuclear Energy Institute in the USA.
He married to Rohini Nilekani. He meet her at a quizzing event at IIT. He along with his wife Rohini signed the Giving Pledge in November 2017.
He wards two children, Nihar and Janhavi, each of whom has received an undergraduate degree from Yale University.
His family has a 2.31 percent stake in Infosys as per the quarter ended March 2018.
After completion of his graduation, he joined Patni Computers under N. R. Narayan Murthy. Three years later, he along with Murthy and 5 others, founded Infosys Technologies Ltd, which went on to became an IT giant in India.
Nilekani became the chief executive officer of Infosys in March 2002 and served as CEO of the company through April 2007. But Nilekani left Infosys in 2009, to join the UIDAI as the chairman on request of the former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
But was brought back in 2017 after a boardroom shakeup at the company and the sudden departure of its CEO. After his return he changed power center from California back to its Bengaluru headquarters. During his five-year tenure as CEO, Infosys’ topline grew sixfold to $3 billion.
Infosys headquaters in Bengaluru
Politics
Nilekani joined Indian National Congress in March 2014. He contested from the Bangalore South constituency where he lost by 228,575 votes to BJP candidate Ananth Kumar in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
He joined a committee to investigate how people in India could use digital payments to a greater extent in December 2016.
Nandan M. Nilekani- Books
Not Just a Civil Servant 1 January- 2019
Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century- 2008
Rebooting India : Realizing a billion aspirations- 2015
On 31 May 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
In 2011, he received NDTV Indian of the Year’s Transformational Idea of the Year Award.
At the Asia Business Leaders Award (2004), he was named Corporate Citizen of the Year organised, by CNBC.
He also won Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics in 2005.
In 2009, Nilekani was placed in the Time 100 list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’ in Time magazine.
In November 2009, he was presented the ‘Legend in Leadership Award’ by the Yale University . He is the first Indian to receive this top honour.
Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board, in January 2006.
In 2006, Nilekani was awarded one of India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Bhushan.
Also, he was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia in 2006.
He was ranked 12th in India’s 50 most powerful people of 2017 list in India Today magazine.
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017.
In 2017, he received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017.
In 2019, awarded Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by IIT Bombay during the Institute’s 57th Convocation.
