Rupeeflo cuts NRI investor onboarding in India from 45-60 days to 24 hours

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Rupeeflo says it has cut the time needed for a non-resident Indian to open an investment account in India from the usual 45-60 days to under 24 hours. The company, founded in 2024, handles the cross-border paperwork that has long kept the diaspora on the sidelines of Indian markets.

The idea grew out of a friend's problem. A college batchmate in the US wanted to invest a significant sum in India and planned to route it through his mother's account, because opening an NRI account from abroad meant weeks of paperwork or a trip home. Co-founder and CEO Dharmendra Maurya says the team then read the RBI and Sebi rulebooks and found that the rules allowed far more than the process delivered. In his words, the barrier was a process designed for someone standing at a branch counter in India.

Rupeeflo positions itself as an infrastructure layer between India's regulated institutions and global investors. It manages verification, notarisation, e-signing and documentation, mapped to the rules of more than 50 countries. The firm says it works with over 25 financial institutions, among them the country's top 10 brokers, top six private banks, GIFT City institutions, and PMS and custody providers. More than 20,000 NRIs and global investors have been onboarded so far.

The numbers suggest a large untapped pool. Maurya says fewer than 3% of the diaspora hold a DEMAT account, and only about 1.6 lakh new NRI DEMAT accounts are opened each year. Foreign nationals, funds and corporates face the same hurdle, often with more documents and more jurisdictions involved.

The business is gaining traction. Rupeeflo has raised close to $2 million over two rounds: a $1 million pre-seed that closed in December 2024, led by Piper Serica Angel Fund with fintech leaders, and a second round from Zerodha's Rainmatter in mid-2025. It reports annual recurring revenue of about $1.5 million, says revenue has doubled every quarter, and describes itself as on the path to profitability.

Maurya sees policy as a tailwind. He points to IFSCA's recognition of digitally notarised documents, GIFT City's opening to global investors, and Sebi's consultation on easing market access for people residing outside India. Combined with rising digital adoption, he believes annual NRI DEMAT openings could grow more than fivefold to 1 million within three years. That is the company's projection, not an official forecast.

The bigger hurdle, he argues, is perception: many NRIs still assume they must fly home to open an account, even though the digital route is compliant and already working at scale. If that belief shifts, the diaspora could become a steadier source of capital for Indian markets. Read the original report here.

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