M'shtra, SHCIL ink pact on e-stamping mop-up

The Maharashtra government has signed an agreement with the Stockholding Corporation of India (SHCIL) to facilitate the collection of stamp duty through electronic route. The modalities of the agreement will be worked out within a month.

After the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, the Centre had mandated SHCIL to act as the Central Record Keeping agency (CRA) and authorised it to undertake the built-operate-transfer project in those states which were willing to join the e-stamping system.

Apart from Maharashtra, SHCIL has also made presentations to governments of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Tripura, Chattisgarh and Delhi.

A senior state official said, "Electronic system of collection has become necessary after the state changed the Stamp Duty Act last year and brought non-delivery based transactions under the ambit of stamp duty."

Under the proposed arrangement with the Maharashtra government, the state will have to fund the hardware required for computerisation of stamp duty administration system. The server and software will be provided by SHCIL and the software will be customised for a particular state.

According to a senior SHCIL executive, e-stamping will give the public the convenience of stamping their documents without undergoing hassles associated with physical stamp paper and without the risk of losing government revenue.

The certificate of stamp duty takes the place of the stamp on the document. The certificate can be printed by a specified local printer, once the e-stamping system receives the document details.

Under e-stamping, an individual needs to punch in the transaction details and the system computes the duty payable automatically.

If the payment is authorised through a credit or a debit card, the certificate of stamp duty can be printed within seconds for attachment to the document itself.

The said facility can also be availed through other payment mode of the nearest authorised collection centre.