Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) are the digital equivalent (that is electronic format) of physical or paper certificates. Few Examples of physical certificates are drivers’ licenses, passports or membership cards. Certificates serve as proof of identity of an individual for a certain purpose; for example, a driver’s license identifies someone who can legally drive in a particular country. Likewise, a digital certificate can be presented electronically to prove ones identity, to access information or services on the Internet or to sign certain documents digitally.

A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to sign electronic documents. Just the way physical documents are validated by a handwritten signature, electronic documents are validated by signing them through a digital signature. It contains information about the users name, pin code, country, email address, date of issuance of certificate and name of the certifying authority. A licensed Certifying Authority (CA) issues the digital signature. Certifying Authority (CA) means a person who has been granted a license to issue a digital signature certificate under Section 24 of the Indian IT-Act 2000.

The different types of Digital Signature Certificates are:

Class II: Here, the identity of a person is verified against a trusted, pre-verified database. This class of DSC is no longer being issued w.e.f 1st January 2021.

Class III: This is the highest level where the person needs to present himself or herself in front of a Registration Authority (RA) and prove his/ her identity.

DSC of Class III signing certificate category issued by a licensed Certifying Authority (CA) needs to be obtained for e-Filing on the MCA Portal.