Baadal™For advisers, distributors & wealth firms
Every client’s KYC and advice record, on your own server, open only to the people who handle it.
Every client family gets one folder for its KYC, risk profile, financial plan, CAS and signed agreements, on Baadal, a private cloud server your firm owns. Relationship managers open only the families they look after, every branch works on the same files, and each family folder’s sharing panel lists the people and groups who can open it.
- Each RM opens only their own families
- Stop a departing RM’s sign-in at once
- One set of client files across branches
Desai Family
- PDFCKYC_
Desai_ C0231.pdf - XLSPortfolio_
Valuation_ Q2_ Desai.xlsx - PDFCAS_
Sep-2026_ Desai.pdf - DOCFinancial_
Plan_ Desai_ v4.docx - JPGCancelled_
Cheque_ scan.jpg - PDFAdvisory_
Agreement_ signed.pdf
Three entries in the books
The gaps an inspection or an RM exit exposes, closed.
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As it stands
Clients send PAN, Aadhaar and cheque photos to their RM on WhatsApp. A year later, one family’s KYC is scattered across RMs’ phones and laptops, and nobody can say how many copies exist.
With Baadal
Clients upload KYC straight into their own family folder.
-
As it stands
Your senior RM resigns. She looked after 340 client families, and their plans, call notes and statements are in her personal Google Drive.
With Baadal
Disable her account on the web. She can’t sign in again, and every client file she kept on Baadal stays with the firm.
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As it stands
An inspection samples your client files and asks for each one’s risk profile, signed agreement, advice and the rationale behind it. Some sit in the office cupboard, some in an RM’s inbox.
With Baadal
One folder per client with a place for every record, and past versions of each file to go back to.
One RM’s Activity list
One family’s folder: what was added, changed and shared.
Here is how the Desai family’s folder could read over four working days in Priya’s own Activity list: files added, edited, shared, deleted and restored, and downloads from the links she sent. Use the filters to follow one person or one kind of action.
Filter by person
Activity list · as one RM sees it
F-0231 · Desai Family
Filter by action
| Date & time | Person | Action | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Oct 09:12 | Neha JoshiOperations | Added | 08_ |
| 14 Oct 10:31 | Priya NairRM | Edited | 03_ |
| 14 Oct 11:48 | Priya NairRM | Edited | 05_ |
| 14 Oct 15:06 | Priya NairRM | Shared | 08_ |
| 14 Oct 16:40 | Kiran BhattPrincipal | Edited | 05_ |
| 15 Oct 08:30 | Priya NairRM | Shared | 04_ |
| 15 Oct 10:02 | Neha JoshiOperations | Added | 07_ |
| 15 Oct 21:47 | Rakesh DesaiClient | Link download | 08_ |
| 16 Oct 12:40 | Neha JoshiOperations | Deleted | 01_ |
| 16 Oct 14:20 | Priya NairRM | Added | 06_ |
| 16 Oct 16:05 | Neha JoshiOperations | Added | 09_ |
| 17 Oct 09:35 | Priya NairRM | Edited | 04_ |
| 17 Oct 11:15 | Neha JoshiOperations | Restored | 01_ |
No entries for that person and action in this period.
Everyone at the firm has an Activity list like this one.
Each list covers the files that person can reach: additions, edits, shares, deletions and restores, and downloads through links they sent. It doesn’t record who opened or read a file, and there is no separate admin log.
An illustration: the people, files and times are examples. Deleted files can be brought back for a limited time; Baadal clears them eventually, and sooner if space runs low.
Your client folders
Built around the client family, not the RM.
Our team sets up the family template with you before delivery. A FATCA form, a risk profile and an advice note each have a fixed place, whether the RM, ops or your compliance officer is doing the filing.
- Organised by client family, the way you review portfolios
- KYC, risk profile, advice and rationale side by side when an inspector asks
- Nominees, insurance and NACH mandates kept with the family, not on an RM’s laptop
- 01KYC & FATCA3 files
- PDFPAN_
Masked-Aadhaar_ Rakesh.pdf - PDFCKYC_
KRA_ Status.pdf - PDFFATCA-CRS_
Self-Certification.pdf
- PDFPAN_
- 02Agreement & Fees1 file
- PDFAdvisory_
Agreement_ signed.pdf
- PDFAdvisory_
- 03Risk Profile & Suitability1 file
- PDFRisk_
Profile_ 2026.pdf
- PDFRisk_
- 04Financial Planto be filed
- 05Advice & RationaleAdvice and the reason for it, together1 file
- PDF2026-10-14_
Rebalance_ Note.pdf
- PDF2026-10-14_
- 06Call Notesto be filed
- 07Transactions2 folders
- SIP & STP Forms/
- NACH Mandates/
- 08Statements1 file, 1 folder
- CAS/
- PDFCapital_
Gains_ FY25-26.pdf
- 09Nominees & Insuranceto be filed
Your own workflow
No first advice until compliance has cleared the file.
Onboarding passes from client to ops to RM to compliance. Write down that order and who signs where, and it runs on Baadal the way your desk already works.
Example workflow · New client onboarding
Onboarding sheet · F-0232 · Iyer Family
-
Client
KYC uploaded
The client uploads PAN, a masked Aadhaar, a cancelled cheque and the FATCA/CRS declaration into their family folder.
Sunita Iyer13 Oct · 18:02 -
Operations
KYC checked
Ops checks the KYC status with the KRA and files the record in 01_KYC & FATCA.
Neha Joshi14 Oct · 10:15 -
RM
Risk profiled
The RM completes the risk profile with the client and saves it next to the suitability note.
Priya Nair15 Oct · 16:30 -
Compliance officer
Cleared
Compliance checks the KYC, risk profile and signed agreement, then clears the client or sends the file back.
Awaiting Arun KulkarniCompliance officer -
Principal
First advice
Advice goes out only after clearance, with the note and its rationale saved in 05_Advice & Rationale.
Opens after step 4Kiran Bhatt, principal
Cleared: all five steps approved, so the first advice can go out.
Annual reviews, redemptions and RM handovers can each have their own steps; build them yourself, or ask us to build them with you.
Who sees which clients
Each RM sees their own book. Nobody else’s.
Access is tied to each person’s role and the families on their list. An RM who moves branch or resigns is one account to change, and the families they looked after stay with the firm.
-
Principal / partners
Opens
- All client families, in all branches
- Advice notes waiting for their approval
Held back
- Held back: Adding or switching off staff accounts, unless they are also the admin
-
Relationship managers
Opens
- Only the families assigned to them
- Plans, reviews and call notes for those families
Held back
- Held back: Another RM’s client families
-
Operations
Opens
- KYC, transaction forms and statements
- The back-office software
Held back
- Held back: Financial plans and advice notes
-
Compliance officer
Opens
- KYC, risk profiles and advice records for review
- Every branch’s client families, view only
Held back
- Held back: Edit rights on client files
-
Your clients
Opens
- Their own family folder to upload into
- Reviews you send them as links
Held back
- Held back: Any other family’s folder
Only the admin adds people, resets passwords and switches accounts off. Everyone else works in the folders shared with them.
“Baadal is exactly what we've been looking for – private, secure, and shared storage space across our offices in India.”
Jupiter WealthFinancial advisor firm, IndiaA day across your offices
Head office and branch, working off the same client files.
Reviews, onboarding and back-office work all touch the same family folders, in Mumbai and Pune at once. An ordinary Tuesday shows how.
OperationsMumbai
Files yesterday’s purchase and SIP confirmations into each family’s Transactions folder, and the month’s CAS into Statements.
Relationship managerPune, at a client’s home
Walks the Desai family through their plan on a tablet at their home, opened from the myBaadal app. Her list shows her own families and nobody else’s.
Your clientFrom home
Uploads a fresh cancelled cheque and a signed nominee form into the family folder, instead of sending photos to the RM’s WhatsApp.
Compliance officerMumbai
Confirms a new client has KYC, a risk profile and a signed agreement on file before the first advice goes out, and sends one file back to ops for a missing FATCA form.
Relationship managerPune
Saves a rebalancing note for the Desais into their Advice & Rationale folder. The principal in Mumbai opens that same file to approve it, not a copy sent by email.
PrincipalMumbai
An RM has resigned. Her account is disabled before she leaves for the day; her client families stay with the firm and the links she sent stop working.
Search, including scanned paper
The nominee form from last year? Just ask.
Scanned KYC and signed forms are read for their text like any other document, so a plain question brings back the right file, however an RM saved it.
- Reads scanned KYC, cheques and signed forms, not only file names
- A Pune scan and a Mumbai plan turn up in the same search
- Pulls the key details out of a long CAS without you opening it
Search respects access: an RM looking for a nominee form only gets files she is allowed to open, never another RM’s families.
Requisition 01Asked in plain words
“Desai’s nominee form, the one signed last year.”
FoundA phone photo in the Desai family folder, found by its printed text.
Requisition 02Asked in plain words
“Why did we move Mehta out of the small-cap fund?”
FoundThe advice note and rationale from March, in his Advice & Rationale folder.
Requisition 03Asked in plain words
“Last quarter’s CAS for the Shah family.”
FoundStatements for each family member, from whichever branch saved them.
Client folders and reviews
A review the family can read, on a link you can withdraw.
Client families upload PAN, address proof, cheques and signed forms themselves, into a folder you share with them. Send a portfolio review or financial plan back as a view-only link with downloads off and an end date, and pull it back whenever you need to.
- KYC arrives in the family folder, not on an RM’s WhatsApp
- Sharing with the Desais shows them the Desai folder alone
- Each review that goes out is listed in the sending RM’s Activity, with the date it was shared
Sharing settings
- View onlyOn
- Allow downloadOff
- Expires15 Nov 2026
- Shared byPriya Nair, RM
Software your back office runs
Your back office and CRM, one copy for every branch.
If your portfolio back office, a CRM or the firm’s own accounts install on Windows or Linux, Baadal can run them on virtual machines in your own office. Every branch then works on the same copy.
- Back-office software with a desktop or server edition, open to every branch instead of one PC
- A self-hosted CRM sitting next to the client folders it refers to
- TallyPrime for the firm’s own books, whether the income is advisory fees or trail commission
Your Windows, software and per-user licences must allow this use. Tools that only run online stay online; we go through what you use on the demo call.
Running on your Baadal
- PBPortfolio back officeWindows VM · desktop softwareRunning
- CRMClient CRMUbuntu VMRunning
- TallyTallyPrime · the firm’s booksWindows VMRunning
Self-hosted CRMs and accounting software that can run on Baadal
- TallyPrime
- SuiteCRM
- Vtiger CRM
- EspoCRM
- Odoo
Product names and logos belong to their owners and are shown to indicate software that can run on a Baadal virtual machine. Baadal is not affiliated with these vendors.
Client data and the rules around it
You hold every client’s PAN, bank details and net worth. Decide exactly who can reach them.
An advisory firm keeps identity documents, bank mandates, holdings and life goals for every family it serves. SEBI’s regulations and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act already expect those records to be kept and produced when asked. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 adds duties to safeguard them, coming into force in stages under the DPDP Rules, 2025.
Maintain each client’s KYC, risk profile and suitability assessment, the agreement, the advice given and the rationale behind it.
One folder per client with a place for each record, version history on every file, and full-text search to produce any of them when an inspector asks.
SEBI-registered intermediaries, investment advisers, portfolio managers and brokers among them, keep records of client identity and transactions and furnish them to the authorities when asked.
Scanned KYC is searchable by the text inside it, so a client’s PAN card, address proof or FATCA declaration can still be found years after it was filed.
Take reasonable security safeguards to protect the personal data you hold, including data a vendor handles on your behalf. This is one of the duties the DPDP Rules, 2025 bring into force in stages.
Encrypted drives, encrypted connections from branches and home, access by role and client family, and view-only sharing for sensitive folders such as KYC.
Once this duty is in force, tell the Data Protection Board and every affected client about a personal data breach.
Each family folder lists the people, groups and links it is shared with, so you can work out what a lost phone, an exposed account or a leaked link could reach, and cut it off.
When consent is withdrawn or the purpose is spent, delete the personal data, except what another law makes you retain.
SEBI and PMLA records often have to be kept, so they need one controlled home. Not copies on RMs’ laptops that nobody can find, let alone delete.
Baadal supports these duties; on its own it does not satisfy SEBI rules, the PMLA or the DPDP Act. Your KYC process, consents, disclosures and how your RMs work still matter, and the dates each DPDP duty takes effect are worth confirming with your advisers. A summary for orientation, not legal advice.
Records an inspection asks for
Records you must keep for years, in one place you can search.
When an inspector, an auditor or a client’s lawyer asks for a file, what matters is how fast you can put it on the table. Baadal holds years of advice records in your own office and helps you find any one of them quickly.
SEBI IA Regulations
The advice and the reasoning
Registered investment advisers maintain each client’s KYC, risk profile, suitability assessment, agreement, the advice given and its signed, dated rationale, plus a register of advice and fees, for the minimum period the regulations set.
PMLA
Five years after the relationship
For reporting entities, identity records are kept for five years after the client relationship ends or the account closes, and transaction records for five years from the transaction.
Open matters
Until it is closed
While a complaint, inspection or investigation involving a client is pending, the related records are usually kept until it is resolved, even beyond the usual period.
- Changes and shares in each person’s Activity
- Version history and undelete
- RAID mirroring
- Scheduled backups
- Encrypted drives, key held by the device
A short summary to orient you, not legal advice. The exact record-keeping duty depends on how you are registered: as an investment adviser, portfolio manager or broker with SEBI, a mutual fund distributor with AMFI, or an insurance intermediary under IRDAI.
Where client data could live
Where should an advisory firm keep client data?
| What matters | Google Drive / Dropbox | A NAS from a shop | Baadal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where client KYC is stored | Provider’s infrastructure | Your premises | Your premises, on hardware you own |
| Knowing who can reach a client’s KYC | Shown per file; admin reports depend on the plan you buy | Set share by share, depending on the NAS | Open the family folder’s sharing panel: every RM, group and link is there |
| When an RM resigns | Remove the account, then trace the files and links they shared | Someone resets NAS permissions by hand | One account off: their links go dead, client files stay |
| KYC on RMs’ phones | Files can sync to personal devices unless restricted | Usually copied over by hand or forwarded on WhatsApp | KYC folders shared with RMs view-only, with download and sync switched off |
| More than one office | Shared drives per team, permissions managed separately | Remote access needs extra setup | Every branch on the same client files; head office sets access |
| Finding an old advice note | Supported file types and plans vary | Depends on indexing software and file type | Text search inside scanned forms, plus AI search |
| Desktop back-office software | Not hosted; needs a separate server | Usually stays on one office PC | Hosted in a VM on Baadal, open to all branches |
| What you pay | Provider plan; costs depend on users and storage | Hardware, plus any software and support | One-time hardware + annual support plan |
Capabilities depend on the product, plan, hardware and configuration.
Questions advisers ask
What advisers want to know before they move client files.
Can an RM see client files on a phone without being able to change them?
Yes. RMs open their clients’ folders in the myBaadal app on Android, iPhone or iPad. Share folders such as KYC with them view-only, so they can read the files but not edit or delete them, and switch off download and sync so they can view KYC but not download it. Working from outside the office needs an internet connection.
An RM resigns tomorrow. What happens to the files on her families?
Switch her account off. Sign-in stops at once, every family file she handled stays with the firm, and her links and email shares go dead. Hand the families over by sharing those folders with the new RM, or with that RM’s team group.
Does using Baadal satisfy SEBI’s record-keeping rules?
No storage product can do that for you. Baadal helps with the record-keeping side: client records in one place you control, access by role, version history, and an Activity list of what was added, changed and shared. Your KYC process, risk profiling, disclosures and written policies are still yours to run.
Will our branch in another city see the same client folders?
Yes. Every branch works on the same client folders, and head office decides who sees what. Jupiter Wealth, a financial advisor firm, uses Baadal for shared storage across its offices in India.
Can clients upload documents without emailing them to us?
Yes. Each family gets a folder of its own to upload PAN, a masked Aadhaar, cheques and signed forms into. No family can see another’s folder, and you can withdraw their access at any time.
Will our portfolio or back-office software run on it?
If it installs on Windows or Linux, it can run in a virtual machine on Baadal and be reached from every branch. Tools that only run as an online service stay where they are. Licences for the software, Windows and each user must cover your setup, and we check this on the demo call.
Where exactly is our client data kept?
On the Baadal device in your office: hardware your firm owns, not a cloud storage company’s servers. Its drives are encrypted, and from outside the office people connect over HTTPS through Baadal’s relay. If you choose to send scheduled backups to S3 or another site, that copy sits wherever you send it.
What if the internet drops, or the device itself fails?
Without internet, people in the office carry on over the local network as long as Baadal and your network have power; outside access and sync between branches need the connection. If the device fails, our support team diagnoses it and arranges repair or recovery under your support and warranty terms. If the drives are mirrored, that helps if a disk fails, and your scheduled backups are the separate copy to restore from.
Book a demo
Open a sample family folder with us.
On a 20-minute call we show you client folders, RM-level access and review links arranged the way an advisory firm runs, then quote for your offices.
Call +91 78620 22715
