Sponsor banks don’t onboard just one business—they onboard fintechs, NBFCs, payment aggregators, and embedded finance partners. Every merchant, borrower, or business that these partners bring onto the bank’s platform ultimately becomes the bank’s responsibility.

 

If a shell company, struck-off entity, or business with hidden beneficial owners slips through onboarding, the sponsor bank bears the compliance and regulatory risk.

 

That’s why Know Your Business (KYB) is a critical part of every sponsor bank’s onboarding process. A robust KYB solution verifies the business, validates its registration details, identifies Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs), screens them against AML and sanctions lists, and continuously monitors for changes after onboarding.

 

This guide shares the KYB providers for sponsor banks in India, based on the checks that matter most: GST verification, MCA/CIN & DIN verification, Udyam verification, UBO identification, AML & sanctions screening, adverse media checks, negative lists, and ongoing business monitoring.

 

Did you know? According to the FATF Mutual Evaluation Report 2024, India has strengthened access to beneficial ownership information and has taken significant steps against shell companies, including striking off more than 500,000 suspected shell companies and a similar number of directors. This highlights why verifying business ownership has become a key part of modern KYB programs.

What is a Sponsor Bank?

A sponsor bank is a licensed bank that enables fintechs, NBFCs, payment aggregators, and other regulated partners to offer financial services also called partner banks or BaaS banks. Since the bank is responsible for regulatory compliance, it must verify not only its partners but also the businesses and beneficial owners onboarded through those partners. This makes comprehensive KYB verification essential for managing fraud, AML, and compliance risks.

 

The Partner

Verify the fintech, NBFC, or payment company, including its legal status, directors, beneficial owners, regulatory standing, and adverse media.

 

The Businesses

Verify every merchant, borrower, or business onboarded through the partner.

 

Ultimate Beneficial Owners

Identify and screen the Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs), directors, and other key control persons behind each business.

 

The right KYB provider automates these checks, maintains a complete audit trail, and helps compliance teams manage large-scale partner onboarding efficiently.

 

What KYB Verification Must Cover

What KYB verification must cover in India?

KYB verification in India usually means:

  • Business Verification: Verify key business identifiers such as GST, Udyam (MSME), Business PAN, CIN, DIN, LLPIN, TAN, AML, PEP check and industry-specific registrations like FSSAI or IEC, where applicable.
  • Beneficial Ownership Verification: Identify directors, shareholders, and Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs). The KYB provider should clearly map the ownership structure to show who ultimately owns or controls the business.
  • Negative Business Checks: Detect struck-off companies, cancelled GST registrations, regulatory non-compliance, loan defaulters, litigation records, and other red flags that could impact onboarding decisions.
  • Financial Due Diligence: Assess the financial health of the business using GST filings, bank statements, Income Tax Returns (ITR), and commercial credit data when required.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: Track important changes after onboarding, including company status, director updates, GST registration changes, and new adverse media or compliance risks.

How do we pick these providers?

We compared each KYB provider on what matters for an Indian sponsor-bank program:

  • Entity coverage: GST, Udyam, MCA, CIN/DIN, PAN, and other India sources, without manual search.
  • Ownership depth: Directors, shareholding, and SBO/UBO mapping.
  • Financial signals: GST returns, bank statements, ITR, and commercial credit where needed.
  • Monitoring and audit: Ongoing alerts plus an evidence trail a regulator can follow.

List of KYB Solution Providers

Surepass

Surepass supports GST, Udyam, Business PAN, MCA, CIN, DIN, TAN, UBO and director verification, along with risk checks such as MCA struck-off status, loan defaulter records, and CRILC.

 

Surepass also verifies business owners and conducts AML and other risk screenings, enabling banks to verify both fintech partners and the businesses they onboard through a single integrated solution, without the need to integrate multiple vendors.

 

Key Services

  • GST, Udyam, business PAN, MCA/CIN/DIN, TAN, LLPIN, FSSAI, IEC
  • AML, PEP, adverse media screening
  • Legal Entity CKYC, business, and document monitoring

Signzy

Signzy is widely used by banks and financial institutions in India for business verification and compliance. Its KYB solution includes business verification, UBO checks, document verification, and AML screening on a single platform.

 

The platform combines business verification, ownership checks, and risk screening with a no-code workflow, allowing compliance teams to configure verification rules without extensive engineering support.

 

Key Services

  • Business and document verification
  • UBO and control-person checks
  • AML, PEP, adverse media screening
  • No-code workflow and case management

AuthBridge

AuthBridge has over two decades of experience in business and background verification. Its KYB solution includes business verification, director and UBO checks, AML screening, adverse media checks, address verification, and on-ground due diligence.

 

For sponsor banks onboarding high-risk fintech or NBFC partners, AuthBridge provides deeper due diligence beyond basic business verification. This helps banks identify potential compliance and fraud risks that may not be visible through MCA or GST records alone.

 

Key Services

  • Entity and KYB verification
  • UBO, director, and signatory checks
  • AML and sanctions screening

IDfy

IDfy combines business verification with advanced fraud detection capabilities. It offers business verification, along with risk signals from court records, police records, and fraud network intelligence.

 

For sponsor banks, this additional fraud layer helps identify fintech partners or downstream businesses that may appear legitimate but are linked to first-party fraud or known fraud networks. By combining KYB and fraud detection in a single workflow, IDfy enables stronger risk assessment during partner onboarding.

 

Key Services

  • Business and entity verification
  • UBO and owner checks
  • Fraud and risk intelligence (OneRisk, Legal History Checks)

Decentro

Decentro offers business onboarding APIs alongside banking and payment solutions. Its platform supports business verification, bank account verification, and payment services such as virtual accounts, payouts, and collections.

 

While Decentro covers the core business verification requirements, organizations that need advanced ownership mapping, UBO verification, or comprehensive AML screening may need to integrate additional KYB solutions.

 

Key Services

  • GST/GSTIN, business & individual PAN, CIN, DIN, LLPIN, Director details via CIN
  • Foreign entity checks: FCRN and FLLPIN verification
  • Udyam/Udyog Aadhaar, FSSAI

Perfios

Perfios (which now includes Karza’s KScan and Total KYC) offers an API-based KYB solution. It covers UBO identification for complex corporate structures, AML screening against global sanctions and PEP lists, and negative checks such as defaults, charges, and related parties. What sets it apart is deep financial due diligence:

 

Key Services

  • Ownership: UBO identification and director/shareholding checks
  • AML, global sanctions, and domestic PEP screening
  • Negative checks: defaults, charges, related parties

HyperVerge

HyperVerge offers an API-based KYB solution for banks and NBFCs in India. It verifies company records against central databases such as GST and NSDL, with OCR extraction for GST and Udyam certificates, and adds UBO KYC checks. Its compliance stack covers AML screening against country-specific and global sanctions lists, PEP checks, adverse media, and ongoing AML monitoring, positioning it as a strong RBI-compliant option for partner and downstream onboarding.

 

Key Services

  • GST, Udyam, PAN, NSDL, business registry verification (OCR-based)
  • UBO KYC and director checks
  • AML, global sanctions, PEP, and adverse media screening

Deepvue

Deepvue provides India-focused KYB verification APIs used to onboard corporate customers and underwrite commercial lending products. It covers core entity sources along with director and beneficial-owner (UBO) verification, signatory checks, and business address validation. The platform focuses on detecting business identity fraud patterns such as shell entities, backdated incorporations, and fabricated filings, making it a good fit for verifying both partners and downstream businesses.

 

Key Services

  • GST, MCA, Udyam/MSME, corporate PAN, TAN, GSTIN
  • Director and UBO/beneficial-owner verification
  • Shell-entity and fraudulent-filing detection

Run a Pilot Before You Decide

Before signing a long-term contract, test the provider with real onboarding scenarios.

 

StepWhat to Evaluate
Define your requirementsIdentify the KYB checks needed for different partner types.
Test real business casesVerify different business structures and ownership scenarios.
Configure the workflowSet up business verification, UBO checks, AML screening, and risk rules.
Measure performanceReview accuracy, turnaround time, and false positives.
Review audit recordsEnsure every verification includes complete evidence and supporting data.
Make the final decisionCompare providers based on coverage, ease of integration, and overall value.

 

A good KYB provider should not only verify businesses but also give your compliance team enough evidence to justify every onboarding decision during an audit.

FAQs

Ques: What is KYB verification? 

Ans: KYB verification (Know Your Business) confirms that a business is real and legitimate, and identifies the people who own and control it. In India it covers GST, Udyam, MCA/CIN-DIN, PAN, beneficial ownership, AML screening, and negative checks like struck-off status and loan default.

 

Ques: How is sponsor-bank KYB different from regular KYB?

Ans: Regular KYB verifies one business. Sponsor-bank KYB verifies the partner, the downstream businesses that partner brings onto the bank’s rails, and the owners behind both, plus ongoing monitoring across the program.

 

Ques: What is the difference between KYC and KYB?

Ans: KYC verifies an individual. KYB verifies a business and its owners. Sponsor banks need both: KYB for the entity and KYC for the people who control it.

 

Ques: Can a startup or small bank integrate KYB APIs easily? 

Ans: Yes, Most KYB providers ship REST APIs, SDKs, sandbox access, and no-code builders, so even a small team can run KYB verification without building it from scratch.

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Vijay Kandari

administrator

Vijay Kandari is part of the marketing team, driving brand growth and digital campaigns. He is passionate about automation, digital transformation, and the evolving trends shaping the future of customer onboarding and verification.