Bengaluru startup IDSign announces formal launch of its brand & unveils its novel app

Launch announcement made at India’s largest- ever virtual event ‘Global Fintech Fest, hosted by IAMAI’

Bengaluru-based startup, IDSign, a new-age Verifiable Digital ID and Signing platform, today announced the formal launch of its brand and its novel & India's first-ever mobile- based application. Incepted in 2018 and backed by the team with strong experience and expertise, IDSign aims at revolutionizing the way identity management, digital verification and digital signing are done in India. It is the first company in India accredited as ‘Certifying Authority’ by the Government of India, with mobile first approach. The company is led by the serial entrepreneur Mr. Naveen Chava. 

The platform is simple, efficient and offers built-in highest-grade security, adhered to Global PKI and would be upgraded to FIDO standards in future. Biggest USP of the platform is enabling users to on board themselves completely digitally without any contact. IDSign will be first such company with app based approach where users can onboard themselves, sign documents and verify their ID in a single application in a seamless fashion. 

Currently, IDSign’s app is available for windows, Android for beta users along with iOS planned for release within a month. It enables mobile users to- sign any document digitally or use mobile as a primary ID that can be verifiable by the platform and ability to sign all business related documents, agreements and filings with Tax & Government authorities at their fingertips. Uniquely, IDSign’s mobile-first approach elevates the process and experience of digital signing from desktops to a mobile platform. 

Speaking about the launch, Mr. Naveen Chava, CEO, IDSign said, “Since our inception, we have invested a quality time in understanding  industry gaps, developing suitable techniques, product testing, as well as securing necessary approvals from regulatory bodies for our novel app. Today, we are happy to go live. If you see, the global identity and digital signing market is poised to reach USD 100 bn by 2021. The India market is still at a nascent stage but holds a lot of promises with developments happening around digital Bharat and Make-in-India. The current pandemic has taught us to adapt to the ‘new normal’ life. The need for maintaining human distance and reducing touch based systems will invoke a myriad of changes in the identity verification and digital signing, steadily evading medium that requires physical and human touch points. Also, IDSign facilitates business and contractual obligations within the legal framework. In present situation like a pandemic where users look ahead to complete their legal obligations remotely, the platform of IDSign allows individuals and businesses to verify identity, authenticate business transactions, seamlessly. By bringing, digital signing to mobile and on-boarding completely paperless, IDSign is set to take lead into the sector covering areas like regulatory filings, business agreements, HR agreements, healthcare and so on.”

Mr. Chava added, “We have already chalked out a business plan to seize the opportunity  in the digital signing market. We are in talks with individual directors and corporate signatories to move into device/HW/OS agnostic platform of IDSign and we see a lot of interests coming from them.  In addition, we will also be targeting banks, credit card and NBFCs where we see a huge business growth. As we progress, we also aim to tap into healthcare, logistics, eCommerce, retail etc., which needs the same solution to help them take the user experience to the next level. With these actions, we aim to achieve a revenue target of  USD 20mn in the next 2-3 years.” 

The launch announcement was made at the Global Fintech Fest, India’s largest two-day digital event for fintech fraternity, organised under the aegis of IAMAI, starting today. IDSign is one of the main participants at the event and Mr. Chava is part of the panel discussing ‘Digitising Financial Services for Inclusion’. 

About IDSign:

IDSign is a new age Verifiable Digital ID and Signing platform with a vision to offer platform-agnostic ecosystem comprising of identity management, digital verification, digital signing to simplify digital verification and consent-based data sharing. Headquartered in Bengaluru, IDSign commenced operations in 2018 by a team of experienced serial techpreneurs led by Naveen Chava and Ganesh Karri. The company is accredited as ‘Certifying Authority’ by the Government of India. IDSign currently works with some of the top-notch companies across relevant industries including technology, BFSI, healthcare, retail and telecom, and is on the fore in building a strong clientele within India and aboard.

Leverage Digital Signatures to Speed Up Your Startups’ Compliance Activities

Most of us are scared of business related compliances, thanks to all the complex documents and tedious proceedings. But one can simply not escape them, especially an Entrepreneur. Company registration, licenses, tax filing, licenses, and several compliances are an essential part of an Entrepreneur's life. So, how can we make these long procedures a tad bit quicker and easier without compromising on authenticity?

Well, one can do so by using DSC (Digital Signature Certificate). It helps you with return filing various documents at a speed faster than normal.

So, What is a DSC?

Digital signature certificate is a certificate, which proves the authenticity of a digital document, like say some e-registration form. One can see it as an e-signature, that is like a verification mark on all the digital documents to ensure the concerned party that the documents received are compiled and sent by the user in question.

Digital Signature Certificates are classified in 3 classes. Class 1, Class 2 (used for income tax return, LLP registration etc), and Class 3 (used for e-auctions, trademark filing and patent filing and so). The DSC is valid for 1 or 2 years and can be easily renewed. Some legal firms help their customers get one with minimum paperwork and quick processing.

How does a DSC work and how secure it is?

Digital Signature certificate must not be confused with an electronic signature. Unlike electronic signature, a digital signature is a combination of 0's and 1's. This combination is unique for every user and pretty difficult to decode.

Now for the security, Digital signature is pretty secure because of the crypto algorithms used in it. Decoding it is difficult, and hence it cannot be forged. Also, if any page in a document is altered, the digital signature will indicate tampering. Timestamp is also an additional feature which increases reliability and transparency.

How can one get a DSC and when is it mandatory to use?

One can get a Digital signature by applying in any of the seven available Certifying Authorities (like e-mudhra, IDRBT, NIC). One can apply by filling the appropriate Class form and submit it along with Identity and address proof. There are online web portals and verification guidelines available for the same.

Some legal firms help their customers with getting a DSC in a hassle-free and error-free manner. They make sure that all the documents are submitted without any errors and on time. After the application is submitted and verified by the authorities, the applicant is provided with a DSC in the form of a USB token.

Digital Signature certificate is mandatory in a few 'Income tax return filing' cases. DSC is mandatory in case of filing the following forms; ITR 4 and 5 (if section 44AB is applicable), ITR 6, and ITR 7.This compulsion has removed a lot of complexities.

Finally, how does DSC help with quick filings?

Digitalizing things have made legal procedures and transactions a quick procedure. Digital Signature helps quicken this process more. An ink signature calls for the presence of all the parties included along with witnesses. The whole scheduling process can take many days and can cause unnecessary delay. While digital signatures, ensuring all the security and genuineness, make the whole process a lot faster.

In the case of filings, storing data and processing it digitally is much easier than doing so manually. Rather than submitting hard copies, submitting soft copies with the same level of reliability just quickens and simplify this whole affair.

Hence, we can conclude, that Digital signature certificate is a very strong and essential technological tool. This certificate provides required identification and verification, privacy, and safe online transactions. Therefore, mandatory or not, one should switch to DSC, so as to make all the otherwise long and boring procedures expeditious.

This article has been contributed by Pulkit Jain, founder of LegalRaasta.com & TaxRaahi – an online portal for Company Registration, LLP Registration, income tax return & tds return

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