Finally I found some time to write about the new E-Stamping technique that has been introduced on a pilot basis in Bengaluru for preparing legal agreements for sale and rental of properties and many other instruments. The entire article detailing this is available here.
So one would like to know what exactly is the difference between the old method and the new method of stampings. And why in the first place is the stamp paper required itself. For starters, the stamp paper is a document that is franked with the government seal on the top of the page, which in essence signifies the legality of a certain instrumental transaction like for eg., that involving a sale or agreement etc. This used to be supplied by the government to the registrar’s offices and some stipulated banks like State Bank of Mysore used to sell it to customers. This was until a few days back. Now no more do these banks stock these bond papers as they are called. And you may not even get it in the registrar’s offices anymore.
Firstly one has to understand that the government of Karnataka has now shifted over to the e-stamping mechanism which in essence means that these franked papers are no more used from now on. Earlier there were many touts who used to procure these bond papers and make a killing by selling them at a premium to customers. This led to mega scams like the Telgi stamp paper scam, more about which you can read here and understand. This scam alone led to a 30000 crore rupee loss to the government of Karnataka which is much more than any politician even could amass in terms of ill gotten wealth.
The government of Karnataka finally woke up and has ushered in an e-stamping mechanism now whereby a company by name Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited are the official vendors of E-stamps from now on. This essentially means that you go to them now, put in all details of why you need an e-franked bond paper, give your address details, contact details, PAN numbers, property details, rental / sale details, and sale/rental value details etc. There are a multitude of things for which this mechanism can be used from now on. To know more about this company and the things you can use their services for, click here and to get the list of things you can use the estamps, click here.
Old and new Stamp paper formats – an illustration
The best thing about this approach is that SHCIL as a company will take care of taking money from you for the bond papers and stamps related instruments, and directly remit it to the government and they will create a unique franking with a unique ID generated for each transaction which is accountable at any time and can be traced to the participating parties always with the PAN numbers. And hopefully the Telgis of the new era might have to come up with something more sophisticated than this to cheat the government. So before I end this post, I am proud to say I used this method and feel more happy, satisfied and confident that my money is legitimately going to the government instead of to a tout.
The directions to the office of SHCIL I went to is in Koramangala is given in a map here for reference sake. They work between 10am and 5pm only between Monday and Friday and are closed for the two weekend days.
Technorati Tags: Automobiles, Property matters, Karnataka, Government, Bengaluru, Blog, Bangalore, E-stamp, Estamp, Bond paper, Franking, Franked sheet, Agreement, Sale, Legal, Stock holding corporation of india, Shcil, State bank of mysore, Mysuru, Telgi scam, PAN, Koramangala, Map
Very useful article.
I have to pay stamp duty for ‘Agreement of Sale’ of a flat and was worried of standing in queue in SBM or suffering the wrath of government officials in sub-registrar offices..
E-Stamping solves all my problems. The map idea is fabulous. Now I will just walk-in to the Koramangala office and pay the stamp duty! As simple as that!!
Thanks a lot dude. Your good work is highly appreciated.
GO
thanks for the comments. and yes, you can pay up the stamp duty via electronic means.
srik
Electronic payment requires registering ourselves in shcilestamp.com site. It doesn’t work now and the person at SHCIL said it will be rolled out only after the 3 month pilot phase is over.
meanwhile, i went to koramangala office yesterday and paid the duty. hope the bank guys accept this for home loan.. what are your experiences on this?
thanks,
GO.
GO
even for me its a first time experience. of course if the government has mandated SCHIL then it must be a valid thing. sometimes its best to go on trust for a while
and good luck to you!
Srik
Hi Srik,
Yes, I've gone ahead on trust and did my Sale Agreement certified by estamp. I've also provided it to the bank authorities for loan processing. Hope things go smooth.
I just wrote the agreement in plain white paper, reference the estamp certificate number in the agreement, got the signatures and stapled the plain papers with the estamp. Is this sufficient?
I later saw that some agreements are made on green papers.. what is the significance of it and why do people use greens?
More importantly, for estamping, is white paper agreement sufficient or should green paper should be used?
Ideally, it will be better if the shcilestamp.com site addresses all these issues in their FAQs.. but all this is missing..
Thanks in advance for reply. ~~GO
GO,
i think its better if part of that agreement content starts off within the estamp paper itself and you can perhaps for the first two pages alone print on both sides of first sheet and then use blank sheets (green or red doesnt really matter!) i believe since this is all electronic now, white or green would not matter strictly.
if you buy a movie ticket online which gives you a reference number for that transaction, does it really matter whether its printed on white paper or green?
this is the same way. yes and i do agree the website does not address these basic questions. instead it copies all the stuff from govt of india websites which are meant for you not to progress with your work!
Hi,
I want to notarize my all degree. Does it possible? if yes how?
Thanks & Regards,
Vijay
Hi,
What is the validity period of franked documents & Estamping certificate? Is it six months from the date of issue, as is the case with stamp papers issued by SBM or is it valid for life-long? Please explain (also , if possible, pls inform me the Act & section no. also).
Thanks & Regards,
Narendra Pai. M
hello narendra
the validity period is currently six months, though there is no official decision taken on how long this can be valid for. and by your query i am not clear as to what act and section number you are requesting for. I have very little details on that from my side.
vijay
it must be possible, please contact any advocate nearby to your home/office and they must be able to atleast clarify about this instantaneously.
I taken two Rs.100/- E-stamp in K.G.Road Iam doing this e- stamp for Lease Aggrement for 3 yerars its Possible, please help me
Thanking you
Hi,
To change the rate of interest of my existing loan in ICICI , I have been asked to get the change of interest/amendment form franked. ( The ICICI bank representative suggested SBM – but when I called the head office , they had no idea about franking)
I am out of the country for some more months and ao, my sister will be doing the franking for me. Can she do it in my absence? Apart from the ammendment form/change of Interest form ( which I have signed), what other documents will she have to carry to SHCIL office? She will have my PAN details and address. How long does the process take? Can you pls guide me on this?
Thanks.
Srikanth, I also wanted to thank you for this blog. I was desperately trying to get information on franking ( Frequent calls to SBM head office, ICICI guys etc could not get me any leads) and was very glad to see the information here. Thankyou!