{"id":4963,"date":"2021-02-01T10:59:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T10:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signdesk.com\/in\/?p=4963"},"modified":"2025-09-17T07:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T12:43:22","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-about-ckyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melento.ai\/en-in\/blog\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ckyc","title":{"rendered":"Everything you need to know about cKYC – Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

cKYC: A Primer<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

KYC is a fairly ubiquitous term in the regulated sector. Know Your Customer or KYC is a requirement for customers to avail the services of businesses in the BFSI sector and is in place to prevent cases of financial fraud including money laundering, illicit usage of funds, and the funding of criminal activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since all organizations in the BFSI sector must abide by KYC<\/a><\/strong> norms, this would indicate that KYC is to be performed every single time a customer wants to avail the financial services from a bank, securities firm or insurer. This would be the case even if the customer has already completed KYC with another business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take a lot of imagination to see that this repeated KYC<\/a> compliance is a burden on both customers and businesses, especially since the customer\u2019s KYC information would already be available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

cKYC was instituted precisely to alleviate this burden of multiple KYC transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cKYC\"<\/p>\n

What is cKYC?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Central KYC (cKYC) is a directive of the Indian Ministry of Finance, first announced in the Union Budget of 2012-13<\/strong>, and subsequently functional from 2016.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This directive aims to remove the redundancies in the KYC<\/a><\/strong> compliance process by creating a single database where all the KYC information of customers is verified and then stored. This database is called the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR)<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CKYCR is managed by the Central Registry of Securitisation, Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CERSAI functions differently from other KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs), in that it\u2019s a comprehensive database that verifies and stores customer KYC information, and doesn\u2019t store in-person verified KYC information on individual systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does cKYC work?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

cKYC needs to be completed just once to avail the financial services. Upon completion of cKYC after the submission & verification of the required documents, the customer will receive a 14-digit KYC Identification Number (KIN) via SMS on their registered mobile number and via email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The customer can then use KIN to complete KYC with any other bank, insurer, NBFC, or securities intermediary without submitting KYC documents all over again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Businesses can simply use the KIN to retrieve the customer\u2019s verified cKYC stored with CERSAI and complete KYC verification.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This process streamlines the KYC verification procedure and makes it simpler for everyone involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what KYC verification was like before and after cKYC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before cKYC<\/b><\/h5>\n
\"Before-cKYC\"After cKYC<\/b><\/h5>\n

\"After-cKYC\"<\/p>\n

As evidenced above, cKYC does away with multiple KYC<\/a><\/strong> transactions by allowing financial service providers to verify a customer\u2019s KYC using just their KIN.<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you complete cKYC<\/a>?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

cKYC currently is a paper-based process and therefore involves the submission of documents & photos for completion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the documents required for cKYC.<\/span><\/p>\n