What is Video KYC?
Video KYC — formally the Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) — is a live, consent-based audio-visual interaction in which a trained official of a regulated entity verifies a customer’s identity remotely. The Reserve Bank of India permitted it in early 2020 as an alternative to physical in-person verification, and it is now the default route to full KYC for digital-first banks, NBFCs and insurers.
The defining feature is that a human official controls the session in real time. It is not a video upload, and it is not a selfie flow — both of which fail the requirement for a live, interactive process.
What a compliant V-CIP session looks like
- Live and interactive — seamless real-time audio and video; pre-recorded clips are not acceptable.
- Official-led, unpredictable questioning — the official asks random questions so the customer’s live presence and liveness can be established.
- Location assurance — geotagging is captured to confirm the customer is physically in India.
- Face match — the live face is compared against the photograph in the identity record.
- PAN capture or verification — either read from the displayed card or verified from the issuing source.
- Auditable recording — the session is recorded with a time stamp, stored securely and retained for the prescribed period.
- Trained officials only — the process cannot be delegated to an unauthorised outsourced agent.
Where it fits in an onboarding journey
V-CIP usually sits at the end of a digital flow, after the cheap automated checks have already passed. A well-designed sequence verifies the phone number, the document and the bank account through APIs first, then routes only the surviving applicants into a video call — because agent minutes are the most expensive step in the funnel.
Practical constraints
Video KYC is operationally demanding: it needs agent capacity at the hours customers actually apply, tolerable behaviour on weak mobile connections, and a re-attempt path for sessions that drop mid-way. Drop-off at the video step is one of the largest single losses in digital onboarding, which is why reducing the number of applicants who need to reach it is usually worth more than optimising the call itself.
Video KYC compared with other KYC routes
Aadhaar-based e-KYC and offline document checks are cheaper per applicant, but they cannot always establish that a real, willing person is present. Video KYC closes that gap, which is why regulated entities reserve it for accounts and credit products where the liability is highest. A branch visit remains the fallback when a customer cannot complete a V-CIP session at all.
What makes a Video KYC programme work
Three things separate a Video KYC operation that converts from one that leaks applicants. The first is capacity planning: agents have to be available in the evenings and at weekends, when most retail applications are actually submitted. The second is a graceful re-attempt path, so a dropped call resumes instead of restarting from scratch. The third is measurement — tracking completion rate, average handling time and the reasons agents reject a session tells you whether the bottleneck is the script, the network or the queue.
The Reserve Bank of India sets out the current requirements in its Master Direction on Know Your Customer, which remains the authoritative reference for any Video KYC implementation.
Related terms
- KYC (Know Your Customer)
- e-KYC (Electronic KYC)
- Liveness Detection
- CKYC and the Central KYC Registry
Verify it with Veriqos
Cut the number of applicants who reach the video step by verifying what can be verified automatically:
- SMS OTP Verification API — Secure user logins and verify phone numbers instantly with Veriqos’ SMS OTP Verification API — for account creation, transactions, or digital onboarding.
- Digilocker Verification API — Verify your customers’ government documents instantly through Digilocker with Veriqos’ Digilocker Verification API — real-time verification through the customer’s Digilocker account.
- Penny-less Bank Account Verification API — Verify bank accounts in real time using the account number, IFSC code, and account holder name — without sending or depositing any money.
See how these checks are applied in Banks & NBFCs, Insurance Providers.
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This entry explains how the check works in practice. It is general information, not legal or compliance advice — confirm current requirements against the applicable regulation.