Digital e-stamping to become mandatory shortly in Karnataka

More than two decades after the e-stamp paper facility was launched, Karnataka will replace it with mandatory digital e-stamping for both registerable and non-registerable documents shortly.

The new facility, which will become mandatory over the next few weeks, will not only bring convenience to public to get the stamp paper from the comforts of their home, but will also prevent misuse, including creating fake stamp papers.

Ease of buying

From approaching a stamp paper vendor on specified days and time currently, the new facility will provide the ease of buying stamp paper online 24/7 from the comforts of home. Not only has it been made fully online, it is also not amenable to any tampering, the government claimed on Monday.

While earlier if a stamp paper document was lost, public could not retrieve it, under the new facility, since the government will maintain digital record, documents can be retrieved using QR code.

The e-stamping facility was introduced in Karnataka following the multi-crore fake stamp paper racket was unearthed in 2002-2003. Over the years, revenue from e-stamp paper has brought in substantial revenue to the government.

If the stamp duty of about ₹45.90 crore was collected in 2009-2010 by issuing about 5.92 lakh certificates, it has gone up to about ₹2,320 crore in 2024-2025 when about 3.07 crore certificates were issued.

Misuse of e-stamp

“The government has observed misuse of e-stamp papers. The misuse has been happening for several years. The misuse includes printing of e-stamp and taking colour photocopies of it. The e-stamp was also being misused to pay lesser pay than what was supposed to be paid,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told presspersons here on Monday.

He said that there were 54 classifications for registerable documents whose fees varied from a few hundreds to several thousands. “However, for transactions where several thousands had to be paid as duty, a ₹100 worth stamp paper was being bought, which is mis-classification. This was resulting in losses to the exchequer,” he said, adding that several such cases had been reported.

Tech upgrade

The Minister said that the digital e-stamp had been mandated for registerable and non-registerable documents. “It has been noticed that nearly half of the non-registerable documents are used to file affidavits. With the changing times, the government has also moved up in the technology.”