"Prior to January 1 2012, if you had intended to open accounts with different SEBI registered intermediaries for the purpose of trading / investment in the securities market, you would have to undergo the process of Know Your Client (KYC) again and again. To avoid this duplication of KYC process with every intermediary, a mechanism for centralization of KYC records in the securities market has been initiated by SEBI.
 
W.e.f January 1, 2012, SEBI has set out revised KYC norms to make the process uniform across Securities Market. SEBI has introduced a common KYC application form for all the SEBI registered intermediaries viz. Mutual Funds, Portfolio Managers, Depository Participants (DPs), Stock Brokers, Venture Capital Funds, Collective Investment Schemes etc. Henceforth, any investor who has not completed the Mutual Fund KYC norms with the CDSL Ventures Ltd. (CVL) is required to use the uniform KYC application form to apply for KYC at the time of investment in Mutual Funds.
 
An intermediary like AxisDirect, shall perform the initial KYC of its clients and upload the details on the system of the KRA (KYC Registration Agency). When the client approaches another intermediary, the intermediary can verify and download the client’s details from the KRA system. As a result, once the client has done KYC with a SEBI registered intermediary, the client need not undergo the same process again with another intermediary.