Aadhaar eSign for Indian businesses.
Sign legally binding documents online with just an Aadhaar number and a one-time password. Compliant with IT Act 2000, accepted by courts and regulators, and live through SignSecure's licensed ESP gateway. No paper. No DSC token. No friction.
An online signature,
backed by your Aadhaar.
Aadhaar eSign is an online electronic signature service introduced by the Government of India. It lets any Aadhaar-holding citizen sign a digital document by entering their 12-digit Aadhaar number and a one-time password sent to their registered mobile.
Behind the scenes, the request is processed by an eSign Service Provider licensed by the CCA (Controller of Certifying Authorities). The ESP fetches eKYC from UIDAI, generates a short-lived digital signature certificate, and seals it into your PDF as a cryptographic PKCS#7 signature.
The result is a document that is legally valid, tamper-evident, and instantly verifiable — without printers, couriers, or USB tokens. SignSecure provides both a no-code signing experience (SignPad) and a developer API (SignLift) on top of this same licensed gateway.
eKYC-backed identity
Aadhaar eSign uses UIDAI’s biometric and demographic database to verify the signer in real time. Identity is proven before the signature is applied — not after.
Routed through a licensed ESP
The eSign request travels through a CCA-licensed eSign Service Provider (ESP). SignSecure integrates with licensed gateways so your documents inherit that legal status.
Legally equal to a wet signature
Under Section 3A of the IT Act 2000 and the Second Schedule, an Aadhaar eSign carries the same legal force as a physical signature — admissible in any Indian court.
Four steps.
A signed PDF in under a minute.
Every Aadhaar eSign follows the same UIDAI-defined flow. SignSecure handles the licensed ESP integration, certificate issuance, and PKCS#7 sealing — you just upload and route.
Upload the document
Drop your PDF into SignPad or POST it to the SignLift API. Mark the spots where the Aadhaar eSign should land — by drag-and-drop, by coordinates, or by an anchor text like "Borrower Signature".
PDF · up to 50 MB02Enter Aadhaar number
The signer enters their 12-digit Aadhaar (or VID — Virtual ID — for added privacy). SignSecure routes the request to a CCA-licensed ESP, which calls the UIDAI eKYC API in real time.
UIDAI eKYC lookupVerify with OTP
UIDAI sends a 6-digit one-time password to the mobile number linked to that Aadhaar. The signer enters the OTP. Identity is now provably verified — exactly as it would be at a bank counter.
SMS · 10-minute validitySignature applied & sealed
The ESP issues a short-lived signing certificate in the signer’s name, applies a PKCS#7 signature, and seals it into your PDF along with a trusted timestamp. Tamper-evident, court-admissible, instantly verifiable.
PKCS#7 · IT Act 2000Under 60 seconds
Median end-to-end signing time, from document open to signed PDF download.
Audit trail
Every signature ships with a UIDAI transaction ID, IP, timestamp, and hash.
Identity assurance
Real signer identity verified by UIDAI — not just an email link or a checkbox.
Pick the door
that fits your team.
Same UIDAI-backed Aadhaar eSign engine — exposed as a polished web app for business users and as a clean REST API for engineering teams.
SignPad
Aadhaar eSign in a browser. No setup required.
Upload a PDF, add the signer’s Aadhaar-linked mobile, and send. The recipient signs from any device using their Aadhaar number and OTP. Templates, bulk send, team folders, and full audit logs included.
- Drag-and-drop document signing — zero engineering
- Send to multiple signers in any order
- Reusable templates for repeat workflows
- Real-time tracking and SMS / email reminders
- Complete audit trail with UIDAI transaction IDs
SignLift
Aadhaar eSign API. One endpoint, signed PDFs.
A clean REST API for triggering Aadhaar eSign from your own application. Initiate the eKYC + OTP flow, capture consent, get back a signed PDF with embedded UIDAI metadata. Built for SaaS platforms, NBFCs, and enterprise systems.
- Single REST endpoint to initiate Aadhaar eSign
- Webhook callbacks on signature completion
- JSON responses, Bearer token auth, sub-second
- Test sandbox with watermarked signatures
- Volume pricing for high-throughput workflows
How does Aadhaar eSign
compare to the alternatives?
Three signature types are common in India. Each is legally valid in its own context. Aadhaar eSign hits the sweet spot of speed, cost, and legal weight for almost every business document.
Bottom line: Electronic signatures are fine for low-risk internal docs. DSC is required for specific government filings. For almost every other business document — loans, agreements, KYC, HR, vendor contracts — Aadhaar eSign is the right choice.
One signature.
Six industries. Hundreds of forms.
Wherever a wet signature used to live, Aadhaar eSign quietly replaces it — faster, cheaper, and with a better audit trail than paper ever offered.
Digital loan onboarding
Sign loan agreements, sanction letters, and KFS documents instantly. Customers go from application to disbursal without a branch visit.
Policy issuance & proposals
Issue policies, capture proposer signatures, and complete riders without printer-scanner-courier loops. IRDAI-compliant audit trail included.
Offer letters & employment contracts
Send offer letters, employment contracts, NDAs, and PF nominations. New hires sign before joining day, from anywhere in India.
Vendor agreements & POs
Onboard vendors, sign master service agreements, purchase orders, and SLAs. Replace paper-and-courier with a one-click eSign flow.
Rental & lease deeds
Execute rental agreements, lease deeds, and brokerage contracts. Landlord and tenant sign remotely with their Aadhaar — no notary office trip.
Board resolutions & MoUs
Sign board resolutions, MoUs, share transfer forms, and KMP appointments. Skip the courier-rounds for multi-director sign-offs.
Backed by Indian
law and statute.
Aadhaar eSign isn't a workaround or a gentleman's agreement. It's a recognised electronic signature defined under multiple Indian laws, and accepted by courts, tribunals, regulators, and registrars.
Recognises electronic authentication techniques specified in the Second Schedule — Aadhaar eSign is the primary technique listed.
Defines the framework for Aadhaar eSign Services, eKYC procedures, and certificate issuance by licensed ESPs.
Aadhaar-eSigned documents are admissible in court as electronic evidence with the same weight as paper.
SignSecure integrates only with eSign Service Providers licensed by the CCA under Ministry of Electronics & IT.
“Authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber by means of the electronic signature specified in the Second Schedule shall be deemed… reliable.”
Aadhaar eSign — your questions answered
Legal status, pricing, security, and integration — everything teams ask before switching to Aadhaar eSign.
Yes. Aadhaar eSign is explicitly recognised under Section 3A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its Second Schedule. Documents signed with Aadhaar eSign carry the same legal force as documents signed with a physical pen-and-paper signature, and are admissible as electronic evidence under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.
The signer enters their 12-digit Aadhaar number (or Virtual ID). A licensed eSign Service Provider calls the UIDAI eKYC API and sends a one-time password to the mobile number linked to that Aadhaar. The signer enters the OTP, the ESP issues a short-lived digital signature certificate in their name, and a PKCS#7 signature is sealed into the PDF along with a trusted timestamp. The whole process takes under 60 seconds.
Any Indian citizen with a valid Aadhaar that is linked to an active mobile number can use Aadhaar eSign. The mobile number must be the one registered with UIDAI, because the OTP is delivered to it. Businesses that want to send documents for Aadhaar eSign sign up with SignSecure — either through SignPad (web UI) or SignLift (API).
Aadhaar eSign is priced per signature transaction. SignPad uses a credit-based model with volume packages; SignLift offers per-API-call pricing with volume discounts. Get in touch for exact pricing for your monthly volume — most customers pay between ₹5 and ₹20 per eSigned document depending on volume.
No. The Aadhaar number (or VID) is only used to initiate the eKYC + OTP flow with the licensed ESP gateway. It is not persisted in SignSecure databases. Only the UIDAI transaction ID, the eKYC response hash, and the resulting signed PDF metadata are stored — and only for the purposes of audit and verification, in line with UIDAI guidelines.
DSC (Digital Signature Certificate) is a long-lived certificate stored on a USB token issued by a Certifying Authority — required for government filings like GST, MCA, RoC, and income tax. Aadhaar eSign uses a short-lived (a few minutes) certificate issued on demand by an ESP, with identity verified by UIDAI in real time. Aadhaar eSign needs no hardware, costs less, and is accepted for almost every business document except the specific government filings that explicitly mandate DSC.
Yes. SignLift exposes a REST API that lets you trigger the Aadhaar eSign flow from your own product. You POST a PDF and the signer’s details to a single endpoint, the OTP screen is rendered for the signer (or you can build your own UI), and you receive a webhook callback with the signed document URL when the signer completes verification. A free sandbox with watermarked signatures is available for development.
Yes. The Reserve Bank of India and SEBI permit Aadhaar eSign for customer onboarding, loan documentation, and account opening in most retail products. Many leading NBFCs, fintechs, mutual fund distributors, and insurance providers use Aadhaar eSign as their default signature method for retail customers.
Open the signed PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader — you will see a "signature panel" showing the signer’s name, the certifying authority, the timestamp, and a confirmation that the document has not been altered since signing. SignSecure also provides a verification endpoint and a public verification page where you can upload a PDF to confirm the integrity of any Aadhaar eSign.
In that case, Aadhaar eSign cannot be used by that signer, because the OTP is delivered to the registered mobile. The signer can either link their mobile to Aadhaar at any Aadhaar enrolment centre, or you can use an alternative signing method — SignPad also supports Electronic Signatures (draw / type) and DSC USB token signing via SignBridge.
Sign your first
Aadhaar eSign today.
Send your first document for Aadhaar eSign in under two minutes with SignPad. Or grab sandbox API keys for SignLift and ship Aadhaar eSign into your product this week.
UIDAI-licensed ESP · IT Act 2000 · PKCS#7 tamper-evident · Sandbox available