Indian citizens and businesses should pay stamp duty, a form of tax, to the central and state authorities for high-value transactions, such as vendor contracts and property agreements, in order for those transactions to be considered legally valid. The traditional way of paying this stamp duty is through the purchase and appending of physical paper stamps. However, this process can be cumbersome, as it involves a lot of steps and time. This often causes a huge delay in business operations. 
At Zoho Sign, we are helping businesses across the globe digitize their entire agreement process. We already offer Aadhaar eSign for Indian users and today we're elated to introduce eStamping by partnering with SignDesk, a trusted digital stamping solution. This will allow our users pay their stamp duties and collect signatures on documents completely online in a single workflow.
What is eStamping?
eStamping is a method by which users pay non-judicial stamp duty on agreements, contracts, and other legal documents to the government. This method is an alternative to traditional methods of paying stamp duty, such as paper stamps and franking. Each eStamped document serves as proof that the user paid the stamp duty digitally to the government and that the transaction actually took place.
eStamping in India
In July 2013, the Indian government introduced an electronic stamping system to allow users to pay the requisite stamp duty online. In India, The Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) issues all the eStamps requested by users. Only the SHCIL is authorized to maintain the records of already issued eStamps and applications for new eStamps. There are also authorized collection centres (ACC) in which certificates will be issued to the requested applicants.
How eStamping works in Zoho Sign
- Enable the eStamping integration by navigating to the integrations page in the Settings menu of your Zoho Sign account.
- Upload or import the documents, click the ellipsis icon and select the digital stamping option.
- Chose your desired state and enter stamp duty amount, consideration amount, document category, document reference number and other details, such as each party's personal data and save them.
- Enter the recipient details, add signature fields, and send the documents out for signature.
- Note that before the documents are sent out for signature, the credits consumed for the stamp duty and document signature request will be displayed.
Documents on which eStamping is mandated or recommended:
- Rental or lease agreements
- HR management documents
- Financial contracts and disclosures
- Real estate purchases
- Vendor contracts
- Affidavits and other monetary agreements
Benefits of using eStamping over physical paper stamps in Zoho Sign
- Generation of eStamps will be done on the go saving you a lot of time.
- eStamp certificates issued are tamper proof and each contains an unique identification number (UIN).
- You can automate your eStamping process and document signature collection from anywhere.
Currently, Zoho Sign supports eStamping for the top five states: Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. You can specify your use case along with the desired state you want Zoho Sign to support, and we will try to support them in our upcoming releases.
Here's the detailed help documentation for users to understand the integration much better. You can also get in touch with us if you need a demo of how the integration works.
If you have any questions or feedback about eStamping in Zoho Sign, feel free to contact us. You can write to support@zohosign.com or share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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