eKYC vs Video KYC vs CKYC: which to use, when

If you onboard customers in Indian BFSI, three KYC methods dominate the conversation: Aadhaar-based eKYC, Video KYC (formally V-CIP), and CKYC. They are often discussed as alternatives, but they solve different problems and carry different regulatory limits. Choosing the wrong one — or applying it to the wrong product — either adds friction you don't need or exposes you to risk you didn't intend. Here's how they actually differ, and how to sequence them.

Aadhaar OTP eKYC: fast, cheap, and capped

Aadhaar OTP-based eKYC lets a customer authenticate using their Aadhaar-registered mobile number and a one-time password. It's self-serve, completes in seconds, and is the cheapest option — which is why it's the default for high-volume, low-ticket onboarding.

The catch is that OTP eKYC is a non-face-to-face method, so the RBI's Master Direction on KYC (2016, as amended) treats it as higher-risk and caps what such an account can do. In broad terms, an account opened purely on OTP eKYC is subject to limits on aggregate balance and annual credits, lending is restricted to term loans within a capped annual sanction, and the account must be regularised with full Customer Due Diligence within a year. The exact thresholds are set out in the Master Direction and updated periodically, so treat them as a live reference rather than a fixed number. The practical point: OTP eKYC is excellent for a lightweight wallet, a small prepaid instrument or a small-ticket loan — but you cannot run a full-service relationship on it indefinitely.

Video KYC (V-CIP): full KYC, done remotely

Video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) was added to the RBI's KYC framework by the January 2020 amendment. Unlike OTP eKYC, V-CIP is treated as equivalent to in-person verification — so the OTP-eKYC caps don't apply, and you can open a full-KYC account remotely.

That equivalence comes with conditions. The session must be conducted live by a trained official of the regulated entity (not outsourced to the customer alone), include a liveness check to confirm a real person is present, and use geotagging to confirm the customer is physically in India, with spoofed or foreign IPs rejected. The entire interaction must be captured as an encrypted, date- and time-stamped recording, run through a maker-checker process, and the account is typically activated only after a concurrent audit. V-CIP costs more and takes a few minutes with an agent, but it works for customers without Aadhaar (using other officially valid documents) and supports higher-value relationships.

CKYC: don't collect what already exists

CKYC is different in kind. The Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCRR), operated by CERSAI under the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, is a shared repository of KYC records across RBI-, SEBI-, IRDAI- and PFRDA-regulated entities. When a customer completes KYC anywhere in that ecosystem, a record is created and they're issued a 14-digit KYC Identification Number (KIN).

For a lender, this means that before you ask a customer to verify anything, you can check the registry: if a valid record exists, you pull it by KIN instead of re-collecting documents. CKYC isn't a replacement for eKYC or V-CIP — it's the step that lets you avoid running them at all when the work has already been done. (CERSAI has been modernising the registry toward API-based access under initiatives announced around the 2025 Budget; confirm current capabilities against CERSAI's own notices before building to specific dates.)

How to sequence them

The lowest-friction onboarding stacks these methods rather than picking one. Check CKYC first — a clean pull means zero data entry for the customer. If there's no usable record and the product fits within the regulatory caps, offer Aadhaar OTP eKYC for an instant, self-serve path. When you need full KYC — higher ticket sizes, full-service accounts, or customers without Aadhaar — route to V-CIP. Designing the funnel this way means most customers never hit the most expensive step, and the ones who do are exactly the ones who should.

FinHub exposes each of these as a single integration — Aadhaar verification, Video KYC and a CKYC-aware onboarding flow — so you can orchestrate the sequence in one place, capture DPDP consent at each step, and keep an audit trail across all three.