Digital Signature Certificate
What Is Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)?
Digital signature certificate is a certificate issued for signing the documents electronically. In India, it is used for doing various types of online transactions such as Income tax e-filing, e-tenders, Company or LLP incorporation
etc.
There are three types of digital signatures -
Class I – Class 1 digital signature is used for protecting e-mail communications.
Class II – Class II digital signature is used for IT return filing , company registration , obtaining DIN, DPIN etc.
Class III – Class III digital signature is used for E-Tendering & participating in E-auctions.
Why DSC Is Important?
Validity – Digital signatures are valid for one or two years and it can be easily renewed after validity
expiration.
E-token – DSC is stored in a secure USB flash drive called E-token.
Quick processing – After submitting the application along with the required documents, you will receive
your DSC certificate within 1-3 days.
Documents Required For Digital Signature
Certificate
Passport size photograph
PAN Card Copy
Voter identity card or Aadhar card copy
Documents Needed For Class II
Class II form hard copy
Passport copy, if you are not an Indian
PAN card copy
Address proof
DSC Registration Process
For registering a company online, all submitted documents must contain digital signatures of Company
directors. Therefore, company directors must own a digital signature certicate class II.
You can directly apply for DSC (Digital Signature Certicates) by contacting Certifying Authorities with selfattested photocopies of the supporting documents along with the original documents. Some Certified
authorities also offer Aadhar based authentication for DSC. No documents are required in this case.
Certified certificate or letter issued by the bank manager. It contains the information of the applicant as
given in the bank database.
Six certification authorities are appointed by Ministry of Corporate Aairs naming e-Mudhra, NC-Code,
Tata Consultancy Services, Safe Script, IDRBT and NIC (National Informatics Centre). The rates of all these
authorities are totally different.
Total charges of DSC also include the USB token cost for storing the digital signature certificate.
Common Causes Of Rejection For DSC Registration
Name abbreviation: The name of the director should match with his or her ID proof or address proof. If
name does not match or abbreviated, your application will be rejected.
Spelling mistakes: There should not be any mistake related to spelling in the name of the person.
Old bill: The bill should be a latest one or not older than 2 months period. Old bill will not be considered.
The applicant name should be clearly mentioned on the bill.
Avoid prefixes: Kindly avoid prefixes such as Mr., Mrs., Shri, etc.