Nobody is on the same page about the required documents , forms and mode of submission for Re KYC at Indian banks! And even their own teams are not on the same page regarding the Re- KYC process ! This is confusing for the customers ! RBI’s circular to all is “GENERAL“ HDFC bank is interpreting it differently than other banks while implementing it.

Because of the lack of uniformity in Re-KYC rules for NRIs, the customers suffer !

 Because of the different interpretations of the Re-KYC process for NRIs, the bank staff is given undue advantage and they end up harassing customers which results in negative banking interactions. As a result, NRIs will not be interested in bringing their money to Indian banks like HDFC. 

The customers are forced to share more personal information than required which violates their privacy and jeopardizes their security ! No wonder you hear about cases where the bank staff was involved in fraud and compromising bank accounts ! 

It is highly disappointing to find HDFC being evasive and deviating from actually addressing the query I had raised ! I am well aware of the agreement between the two countries but that’s not what we are addressing here. My request was that HDFC find “valid alternatives to SSN “like other Indian banks in this matter.

It appears that HDFC NRI team and Branch Heads are not even confident about taking ownership of a decision regarding the issue I had raised about “ the requirement of SSN in Extended KYC ! “ & “finding valid alternatives for it” ! There are provisions for providing a “functional equivalent “ if you read the instructions on the form ! 

In the absence of TIN, any other document should be acceptable.It is written in the Extended KYC form that “ incase TIN is not available, kindly provide functional requirement”. Some Indian banks are finding alternatives. Therefore, why is HDFC being so rigid about it ? 

HDFC should research on how other banks are completing Extended KYC of NRIs as some banks are not asking for SSN !