Opening bank and investment accounts in India has long been a frustrating process for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), with lengthy paperwork and manual verification often delaying onboarding for several weeks. Despite growing interest in investment options such as Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) deposits and Indian equities, many potential investors reportedly abandon the process before completing it.
Highlighting the issue, Zerodha Founder and CEO Nithin Kamath said NRI onboarding has traditionally been cumbersome, noting that even attractive investment opportunities lose their appeal if opening an account takes nearly two months.
Kamath pointed out that the Reserve Bank of India’s current FCNR deposit framework allows NRIs to earn fixed deposit-like returns while keeping their savings in US dollars, with the RBI effectively bearing the currency hedging cost. However, he observed that lengthy onboarding often causes investors to miss the right opportunity or lose interest altogether.
Industry experts believe the delays stem from a fragmented onboarding ecosystem that requires NRIs to interact with multiple institutions, including banks, brokers, regulatory authorities, and sometimes chartered accountants. Each organisation follows its own documentation and verification process, resulting in repeated submissions, manual checks, and extended waiting periods.
According to Rupeeflo founder Dharmendra Maurya, the continued dependence on physical paperwork remains one of the biggest challenges. Many financial institutions still require printed forms with handwritten signatures, while applicants in several countries must also obtain notarisation or consular attestation before submitting documents. Even small errors, such as signature mismatches or incomplete forms, can force applicants to restart parts of the process.
Maurya also noted that the absence of a unified onboarding system leaves many applicants uncertain about the status of their applications, further adding to the frustration.
The impact of these delays extends beyond inconvenience. Rupeeflo estimates that nearly 60–75 percent of prospective customers abandon the onboarding process before investing, largely because their initial interest fades during prolonged verification and repeated documentation requests.
To address these issues, Rainmatter-backed startup Rupeeflo has partnered with several banks to significantly reduce onboarding time. The platform aims to enable NRIs to open bank, demat, and trading accounts through a single digital process, cutting the timeline from nearly 60 days to as little as 24 hours.
Kamath believes the initiative could offer valuable insights into investor behaviour, particularly whether a faster and frictionless onboarding experience leads to higher account activation and increased investments from the global Indian diaspora.
If such digital onboarding models prove successful, they could reshape how Indian financial institutions serve millions of NRIs by making investing in India faster, simpler, and far more accessible.
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