Electronic signatures in India

The law: the Information Technology Act, 2000

India's e-signature law is the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act No. 21 of 2000), in force since October 17, 2000. An amendment in force since October 27, 2009 added "electronic signature" alongside the original "digital signature". Three provisions matter most:

• Contracts. Where proposals and acceptances are expressed electronically, "such contract shall not be deemed to be unenforceable solely on the ground that such electronic form or means was used for that purpose" (s 10A).
• Writing. A legal requirement that something be in writing is met by an electronic record that is accessible for later reference (s 4).
• Signatures. Where a law requires a document to be signed, the requirement is met if it is "authenticated by means of electronic signature affixed in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government" (s 5).

Electronic evidence is governed by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in force since July 1, 2024, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

What the Act counts as an electronic signature

"Electronic signature" is a defined term, and it is narrow: "authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber by means of the electronic technique specified in the Second Schedule and includes digital signature" (s 2(1)(ta)). A subscriber is "a person in whose name the electronic signature Certificate is issued" (s 2(1)(zg)). So the Act recognizes two families of signature, both tied to a licensed Certifying Authority:

Method	What it is	Meets a legal requirement to sign (s 5)?
Digital signature with a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)	A signature made with an asymmetric crypto system and hash function (s 3), whose key pair is certified by a Certifying Authority licensed under the Act	Yes
eSign, a Second Schedule technique	E-authentication using Aadhaar or other e-KYC services, leading to a Digital Signature Certificate issued by a Certifying Authority (Second Schedule, item 1), or a signature key created and stored for the subscriber by a trusted third party, under the subscriber's sole authentication control and again with a Digital Signature Certificate from a Certifying Authority (item 2)	Yes
Other electronic methods: a click, a typed name, a drawn signature, a platform's own signature	Not a Second Schedule technique, and the signer holds no Electronic Signature Certificate	No, but the contract they help form isn't unenforceable just for being electronic (s 10A)

The Act also sets reliability conditions for any electronic signature technique: the signature data is linked to the signatory and no one else and under their control at signing, and any later change to the signature or the information is detectable (s 3A(2)). Meeting those conditions isn't enough on its own: the technique must also be specified in the Second Schedule (s 3A(1)). A secure electronic signature is one whose signature creation data was under the signatory's exclusive control and was stored and affixed in the prescribed manner (s 15).

Documents the Act doesn't cover

"Nothing in this Act shall apply to documents or transactions specified in the First Schedule" (s 1(4)). The First Schedule lists:

1. Negotiable instruments under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, other than a cheque, and a demand promissory note or bill of exchange issued in favor of or endorsed by an entity regulated by the RBI, NHB, SEBI, IRDAI or PFRDA.
2. Powers of attorney under the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882, other than those that empower an entity regulated by one of those bodies to act for the person executing them.
3. Trusts under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882.
4. Wills and any other testamentary disposition.

A fifth entry, contracts for the sale or conveyance of immovable property, is shown as omitted by notification S.O. 4720(E) of September 26, 2022, which also made the carve-outs in entries 1 and 2. Property documents can also be subject to stamp duty and registration laws, which this page doesn't cover. For stamp duty, "execution" of an instrument includes attribution of an electronic record under the IT Act (Indian Stamp Act, 1899, s 2(12)).

Proving an electronic record in court

• Admissibility. "Nothing in this Adhiniyam shall apply to deny the admissibility of an electronic or digital record in the evidence on the ground that it is an electronic or digital record", and such a record has, subject to section 63, "the same legal effect, validity and enforceability as other document" (BSA s 61).
• The certificate. Computer output is admissible when the conditions of section 63 are met, and a certificate describing the record and the device that produced it "shall be submitted along with the electronic record at each instance where it is being submitted for admission" (s 63(4)), signed by the person in charge of the computer or device and by an expert.
• Who proves the signature. "Except in the case of a secure electronic signature", if a subscriber's electronic signature is alleged to be on a record, the fact that it is theirs "must be proved" (s 66).
• Presumptions. The court presumes an electronic record that purports to be an agreement "containing the electronic or digital signature of the parties" was concluded by those signatures (s 85), and presumes a secure electronic signature was affixed by the subscriber with the intention of signing (s 86). Outside secure records and signatures, section 86 creates no presumption.
• Retention. A legal requirement to keep records is met electronically if they stay accessible, keep their original format or one shown to be accurate, and keep the details of origin, destination, date and time (IT Act s 7).

How to make an electronic agreement hold up

1. Check the First Schedule. Most negotiable instruments and powers of attorney, trusts and wills are outside the IT Act.
2. Check whether a law requires the document to be signed. If it does, sign with eSign or a Digital Signature Certificate.
3. For other agreements, keep evidence of assent: who agreed, to which exact text, and when.
4. Plan for the section 63 certificate that must accompany the electronic record in court.

Where Attest fits

Attest signatures are not "electronic signatures" or "digital signatures" in the IT Act's defined sense: the signer holds no Electronic Signature Certificate from a licensed Certifying Authority, and passkey signing is not a technique listed in the Second Schedule. So an Attest signature can't satisfy a law that requires a document to be signed (s 5), and it doesn't carry the presumptions of BSA sections 85 to 87.

Where it is useful is an agreement no law requires to be signed: section 10A applies, and the question in a dispute is proof of who assented to what. There, each Attest signature carries the evidence a court will want to see:

What a court will want to see	What Attest records
Who assented	Each signature is made with a passkey registered to the signer's email address. A passkey is a cryptographic key only the signer controls, unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN, and it must confirm the signer is present and verified. Attest confirms control of the email address and the passkey, not a government ID
To exactly what	The signer reviews the document, and their passkey signs a statement that begins "I have reviewed and I sign", with the SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact document and of the signer's entries. Change one byte and verification fails
That the record is intact	Attest checks each signature against the passkey's public key before recording it, and the signed state is anchored on the Horizen public blockchain
The electronic record itself (BSA s 63)	Every party downloads the same sealed PDF: the signed pages, with a "Signed with Attest" stamp on each signature and a seal line at the foot of every page, a certificate of completion, the audit trail up to completion and a "Verify it yourself, without us" page, with the full evidence, the original document and a standalone verifier attached inside

A fingerprint (SHA-256 hash) is a short code calculated from a file's contents that changes if a single byte changes. The open-source verifier inside the copy runs in any browser without any Attest service and checks each signer's passkey signature, the original document, the pages you see and Attest's anchored record on Horizen. The section 63 certificate is still needed, and the court decides how much weight the evidence carries.

For a document a law requires to be signed, a negotiable instrument, a power of attorney, a trust, a will, or a property document that must be registered or stamped, use the method that law requires, such as eSign or a Digital Signature Certificate.

Every document is end-to-end encrypted, so Attest can't read it. Signers need no account and never pay, and anyone can verify a signed copy for free at attest.datahubz.com/verify. Your first 2 documents are free, in total, then the Signing plan is $5 a month for 20 documents.