Ensuring eSignature Compliance for Employee Reference Requests in India

How to eSign a document: eSignature lawfulness for Employee Reference Request in India

hello everyone I'm Manisha Martin and I'm a product marketer for zobo sign we have Deepika with us an associate council at Zoho and my fellow trainer for the day if you experience any network disturbances or technical issues at any point during the webinar feel free to reconnect we are recording this session and you'll receive a copy of the recording and the slide deck by email in a few days at any point in the session if you feel like you have questions feel free to use the questions tab on your left hand panel to raise them our panelists are there to answer them and provide you with assistance if necessary the answers to your questions will appear under your question in the questions tab today we'll be looking at how Indian businesses can leverage Zoho science integration with other assign in mudra kyc services and take an exclusive sneak peek into ease stamping which will be soon available across all NATO States before we dive into the webinar let's take a quick look at the agenda we start off with a brief overview of Zoho sign followed by walkthroughs of other esign and E mudra e kyc Integrations in Zoho sign then a sneak peek into each stamp workflows for digitally signed documents and finally a panel of experts will answer your questions let me now introduce you to Deepika an associate Council from zoho's legal team she will be taking us through the legality of digital signatures in India over to you Deepika okay so today I'll take you through an overview of the legality of digital signatures in India the information technology Act of 2000 or the IIT Act is the primary law that governs electronic signatures in India it provides a legal framework for electronic transaction and recognizes the validity of eSignatures in addition the electronic signature or electronic authentication technique and procedure rules of 2015 recognizes aadha e-sign as one of the valid forms of electronic signatures in India now let's look at the legal validity of electronic signatures in India Section 5 of the ITR grants eSignatures the same legal status as physical form signatures where a law requires any document to be signed that requirement is fulfilled if the document is electronically signed using an eSignature tool that is compliant with law like Zoho sign moreover the IIT app provides that the contracts formed and signed electronically fulfills the legal requirements of a valid contract and are enforceable in law so when you sign agreements using a product like Zoho sign such contract is legally recognized and can be enforced in courts as well now over to our product expert Manisha um thank you so much Deepika let me quickly share my screen while white signatures require printing physically signing and then either scanning faxing or mailing the documents electronic signatures can be completed and sent through a single digital channel like a smartphone or a computer this streamlined process means that businesses can conduct more customer facing transactions remotely the benefits of electronic signatures include a better customer experience reduce turnaround times greater organizational efficiency and improved protection and compliance when it comes to digital signatures additionally electronic signatures contribute to a Greener World by reducing paper waste the traditional pen and paper method has various inherent issues and drawbacks along with the laborious task of paperwork management there are also worries about fraudulent activity and tampering potential harm or loss of documents and substantial administrative expenses due to these factors expansion of a business with customer and market growth becomes exceedingly challenging now the question arises as to why your business should consider transitioning to paperless operations using digital signatures the these electronic signatures offer added security through the use of digital certificates which function as a digital fingerprint that ensures the authenticity and the tamper-proof nature of the signed documents furthermore digital signatures allow for signer authentication during the sign up process they buy legally establishing the identity of the signer and making documents enforceable in quote so what can Zoho sign offer your business Zoho sign is a comprehensive digital signature solution utilized by tens and thousands of businesses across 100 different countries secure cloud-based signing process Zoho sign simplifies the sending signing and management of business paperwork in addition it provides Advanced features such as saving frequently used agreements as templates collecting signatures from multiple parties and bulk sending of documents Zoho sign also integrates with in-house apps using rest apis web Hooks and mobile sdks the app not only accelerates document signing and but also automates customer workflows to reduce errors and variability completes billing tasks instantly and enhances customer satisfaction and retention new users can sign up for a free 14-day Enterprise trial to explore the apps while sharing my screen the links cannot be clicked but they can be accessed once the deck and the webinar recording are shared via email Zoho sign offers various security features such as multi-factor authentication tamper-proof audit trails and blockchain time stamping all of which are crucial for any business additionally the platform allows for identity verification through European Union e-id methods or dynamic knowledge base authentication as well as secure Signature Collection Via SMS these features ensure that only the intended party signs the document for the highest level of compliance and validity in the quota flow it is recommended to sign documents with qualified Electronics in nature zoho's sign has also partnered with leading trust service providers such as unataka infosight sync pass trust Factory other resign and e-mudra ekyc service Zoho sign is designed to improve remote collaboration offering support in 18 commonly used languages as well as document and template sharing among your organization's users Additionally you can easily manage documents using folders and document types integrate with Cloud servers and service providers for automatic backup Zoho sign facilitates the signing of cross-border business documents while ensuring compliance with regional and international laws such as the e-sign act in the United States eidas in the European Union pipeda in Canada ITA 2000 in India and the electronic transaction act in Australia and Southeast Asian countries moreover we adhere to customary regulations on data security and privacy including gdpr in the EU CCPA HIPAA and fda's 21cfr part 11 in the United States Zoho sign offers mobile and desktop application that work on various platform including Android iOS iPad OS Mac OS and windows enabling users to access their paperwork on the go and conduct remote business seamlessly and synchronously across different devices regardless of their location and time Integrations play a crucial role in every organization Zoho sign not only integrates with other Zoho apps like CRM writer forms or contracts but also with other third-party applications such as Dropbox Google Drive OneDrive Microsoft teams Outlook and 50 plus popular applications Zoho sign has a broad range of use cases across departments and functions including onboarding newly recruited employees who need to sign employment contracts ndas and policy documents all of which can be easily done through an automated workflow online this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the apps regular usage by our customers for the business to be successful they must sign numerous documents daily to establish and maintain relationship with clients merchants and agents however this paperwork presence multiple challenges including long processing times wasted Manpower unsatisfactory customer experience High legal risks and environmental harm as a result it is crucial to digitize paperwork to maintain a Competitive Edge this process begins with digitizing the signature which is where other resign comes into the picture all assigner needs is a valid other number and an other linked mobile number or email ID to perform reliable digital signature this method is game changing for businesses looking to create digital workflows that incorporate customer or vendor signatures let us now look at the prerequisites you would require a valid Zoho sign or Zoho One account for this however you can also try this in a 14-day Enterprise trial both Integrations work only when your account is present in the Indian data center which means when you access Zoho sign the domain should be Zoho dot in and not zoho.com if you aren't you could always drop a mail to support El zohosaim.com and our team will help you with the migration process also ensure that you have sufficient Zoho sign credits while trying out these Integrations you can click the pricing link to know about credit consumption since I am currently sharing my screen you won't be able to give it a try immediately however as I mentioned earlier once we Grant you access to this presentation you can visit these websites anytime before we dive into this integration let me hand over the session back to Deepika who would take you through the legality of other esign in India over to you Deepika so I'll now take you through the conditions for a valid electronic signature in India and we will also look at how Zoho signs are the a sign feature complies with it section 3A of the IIT Act of 2000 provides for three main legal requirements for a valid electronic signature the first and second legal requirement are as follows the first being that the electronic signature should be uniquely linked to the signatory and the second being that the designing key should be under the sole control of the person who is signing the document now let us understand how Zoho sign achieves this from the illustration below whenever the signer chooses Zoho science aadhar e-science service to sign a document they will be redirected to the website of the authorized certification Authority that is e mudra in this case on E mudras photo the signer is required to enter their other number and perform OTP verification of the same now let's have in mind that this OTP is sent to the signers mobile number linked to their other upon successful OTP authentication the signer is issued with an electronic signature certificate and the sinus aadhar e-sign is affixed on the document now in this process as you might know the other number is unique to each individual and when the signer authenticates the same it satisfies the first legal requirement of the eSignature being uniquely linked to the person signing the document moreover the signer needs to enter his OTP sent to the mobile number linked to aadhar on the emudra portal to authenticate and obtain the eSignature certificate and this satisfies the second legal requirement of the signing key being solely in the control of the signatory the third and final legal requirement is that alterations made to the eSignature and alterations made to the document to which the eSignature is affixed or detectable as shown in the image on the left when you use when you sign using Zoho signs aadhar e-sign feature if such e-sign has been altered with an error message will be displayed stating that the eSignature is invalid as shown in the image on the right similarly the user gets displayed in error message stating that the document is corrupted or altered if there are any changes to the document satisfies the third and final legal requirement moreover when you sign a document using Zoho science other e-sign feature you receive a certificate of completion along with the signed document as you can see in the images on the screen the certificate helps you verify the signers their respective signatory IDs the document ID the document name and the time of signing and this certificate serves as a valid audit trial under law finally I would also like to highlight that the certificate that Zoho sign uses for generating the final signed document is issued by an authorized certification Authority in conclusion Zoho sign fulfills the legal requirements under the IIT Act of 2000 and complies with it wholly now let us look at some of the use cases businesses can use Zoho science aadhar e-sign facility to sign almost all documents that they deal with on a daily basis this includes sale agreements agreement signed with vendors HR policies invoices tax e-filing payslips investment applications Etc however there are a few exceptions to this the law requires certain documents to be signed only physically these are negotiable instrument other than checks Wills power of attorney trustee and property transactions over to you Manisha once again thank you so much Deepika for that detailed explanation let's now look at enabling the integration in Zoho sign from your Zoho sign dashboard go to settings which is on the left navigation panel once you click on settings go to Integrations and toggle the other esign integration to on so with this you have now enabled other esang in your Zoho sign account under the information technology act other based eSignatures processes the same legal compliance and validity in India as handwritten signatures let us now look at how to sign documents with adari sign the email that you have received click on start signing and proceed to the document once you have reached the document from the sine wire drop down select other e-sign and click on sign documents why did we wait for this document to load let's skip the optional fields and you are now taken to e mudra's e-sign service enter your unique 12 digit other number and agree to the terms and conditions you will now receive a new TP to the registered mobile number that is linked with your aadhar account once you receive the OTP enter it so this is going to be a six digit OTP which will only come to your registered phone number and once you have entered it click perform esign with this we have signed this document with other e-sign so now we have seen how you can sign documents using other if sign before we proceed let's look at some key differences between other e-sign and E mudra e kyc the one similarity between both the Integrations is that they are available only if your account is in the Indian data center as I mentioned before that is when you sign into Zoho sign it has to be Zoho dot ien if you're signing in from zoho.com then you are in the US data center you can always write to a support team to help you with this migration will be helpful if you have huge volumes of documents to be signed and are part of an organization for this instance you're a fintech organization onboarding multiple clients other design will be helpful if you occasionally sign documents or if you want to get a document signed by a guest signer for instance a contract renewal which when Once occurred won't happen again in the near future the final key difference is how to use it to use e-mudra e kyc you have to finish the E kyc process set by emudra and also you need to have a valid Zoho sign account in your organization however for Radha resign no additional registration is required and also your other number and Associate phone number is enough to sign the document please note that a mudra issues you a long-term certificate for your identity aadat verifies your identity and provides a certificate that is valid only for that particular document signing process the government of India issues digital signature certificates via certifying authorities as Deepika explained to us earlier such as e-mudra to validate one's identity to electronically sign crucial documents that have to be submitted to the government public or private sector service providers it is advisable to utilize digital signature certificates let us now explore Zoho science integration with a mudra e kyc from the Integrations tab in your Zoho sign account toggle emudra is signed to on click on manage users and then click on plus associate users select the uses that would that you would like to associate to your account and click on associate and then click on confirm to finish this process with this you have now Associated a user successfully to your zoco sign emudra integration let us now look at signing documents via emudra ekyc from the email that you have received click on start signing and then proceed to the document once you have opened the document agree to the terms and conditions and add your signature from the sine wire drop down select e mudra e kyc enter your six digit PIN which is unique to you and once you have entered the pin you will receive an OTP sent to your registered mobile number you can also opt for a Time based OTP now agree to the terms and conditions and once you have entered this OTP click on perform esign with this you have now signed your document using emuda ekyc next let us look at verifying the documents that have been signed using these Integrations on my screen now you can see a document that has been either esigned in Zoho sign I have opened the signature panel for you and highlighted it here you can see that it is mentioned very clearly that this document has not been tampered with or changed a timestamp is also embedded to this document furthermore you can see more details about the sinus authenticity by clicking on sinus show signer certificate right now I have opened the signature properties of this document here I have highlighted the last four digit of the sinus aadhar card number I have blurred out a few details as in to protect the identity of the signer but you can clearly see that here all the details of the signer is mentioned okay the collected signature metadata can now be displayed on the signed document enabling customers to comply with their Industries digital signature standards for paperwork and documents now let us look at visible signatures available in Zoho sign the visible components of a signature include the recipient signature their name email address which is automatically fetched from the sender provided this recipient details the reason for signing the signing time and a unique recipient ID Zoho sign offers two layout options for displaying this metadata a vertical normal layout or a horizontal wide layout depending on user preference so this is how visible signatures either normal or white will appear on your signed document let's now move on to our exclusive sneak peek of our latest feature e-stamping let me hand over the session back to Deepika to help us understand the legality of e-stamping so we will now be looking at the legality of e-stamping in India and how Zoho science upcoming eastam feature is compliant with it in India stamp duty is levied under the Indian Stamp Act of 1899 as well as various state tax payment of requisite stamp Duty whether through e-stamping or otherwise is crucial to make such document admissible as evidence of course should there arise any dispute now let us look at the documents on which Stamp Act requires stamp duty to be paid ing to section 3 of the Stamp Act stamp duty is payable on documents specified in schedule 1. these documents can be in any form so this includes physical and electronic documents primarily these are documents under which rights are created or transferred now this includes sale agreements ndas conveyance Deeds mortgage Deeds power of attorney and any other document that businesses deal with on a daily basis with respect to payment of stamp Duty it varies under the specific State stamp Duty acts section 17 of the Stamp Act requires stamp duty to be paid before or at the time of executing the electronic agreement with Zoho science estamp feature the user will be able to effortlessly pay stamp Duty and receive a stamp Duty acknowledgment challan as you can see in the image on your screen this acknowledgment challan contains details such as a certificate number a unique document ID the amount of stamp Duty paid the type of document the parties to the document and the state in which stamp duty is paid an important point to note here is that zoho's e-stamp is generated through a government authorized service provider stockholding Corporation of India limited or shcil for short sstil is authorized by the government to issue e-stamp certificates additionally users can verify the e-stamp certificate on shcils portal which can be accessed through the link you see on your screen by entering details such as the certificate number document description and state that will all be available on your acknowledgment Shalon you will now be able to verify the e-stamp certificate issued via Zoho science e-stamping facility now over to Manisha who will give you a sneak peek of the estamp service uh thank you so much Deepika for explaining the legality of e-stamping in Zoho sign before we move on to the sneak peek of stamping in Zoho sign let me give you a quick overview of how this works first you log into your Zoho sign account and then you upload the documents that need to be e-stamped you enter the e-stamping details which Deepika has mentioned earlier and we'll be seeing what those details are in the upcoming slides you add the stakeholders or the people who are to sign these documents to your in the recipient details you drag and drop the necessary fields and then you send these documents out for Signature once the document is signed you can download an executed copy okay so let us now take a look at a few screenshots to see how this feature looks in Zoho sign of course this is an upcoming feature and there might be a few changes when this feature goes live which could be any time now so let's however take a look at how this looks okay so right now I have the send for signatures dashboard on the screen I have highlighted a part where it says add estamp you can now choose this option while sending documents out for signature once you select this you would be asked to add a few details such as the state in which this document is being executed the duty amount the transaction value of this document the document category and the document reference number once you have added these details we move on to adding the first party details now this includes the name a unique ID so in this case I've used uid which is the Ada number which is a 12 digit unique number assigned to every Indian national now you are also asked to enter phone number address city and state followed by the postal code you have to enter the same details for the second party as well once you have entered all these details that is the e-stamping details the details of the first and the second party you need to click save and this will take you take you to the document now before we go to the document you can see that the badge would be added to your uploaded document which says is stamp added now once you are at your document as you always do you can drag and drop all the necessary fields that you need from your signers so once the document is signed you can see that this page or like this would be the UI that you are going to see which this is an appended copy of the stamp Duty details that you have paid there is also a reference number on the top right corner which can be used to verify the verify if this document has been digitally stamped or not as Deepika explained to us earlier uh with that we come to an end to this sneak peek of Zoho science e-stamping feature here are some important URLs to get started with Zoho sign if you're stuck at any point while setting up your Zoho sign account you can always find related help documents in the first link we also have individual links for a Solutions guide Integrations and API guide we also have our very own YouTube channel and video repository where we upload all webinar recordings along with how-to videos for all our native applications if you have any other queries ideas all want to engage in discussions with a community of developers in users you can visit our forums and participate I've also given the links for you to read up on the legality of Zoho sign in your country it's pricing and request a purse lines demo for your organization we are also available to answer all your questions and are always open to feedback as well as suggestions that could help us enhance and improve our services in case you want to get in touch with us you can always reach us by dropping an email at support zohosine.com you can also visit our social media Pages for our latest announcements on product updates and upcoming releases and webinars feel free to comment on our posts if you are a social bug so I think we can wrap this session thank you so much to each one of you who have joined the session we hope that you've all had a lot to learn from this webinar I look forward to seeing you all in our upcoming webinars so that's it this is Manisha saying goodbye on behalf of the entire panel and Zoho sign team