Frequently Asked Questions
A Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) is a secure digital key that certifies the identity of the holder, issued by a Certifying Authority (CA). It typically contains your identity (name, email, country, APNIC account name and your public key). Digital Certificates use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) meaning data that has been digitally signed or encrypted by a private key can only be decrypted by its corresponding public key. A digital certificate is an electronic mechanism that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Internet.
The Information Technology Act, 2000, India, recognizes the Digital Signature Certificate as a legally valid signature. Digital Signature Certificates are generally a statutory requirement and can be issued, revoked or suspended by an authorized Certifying Authority (CA) under the Ministry of Information Technology.
Though there are three classes of DSCs, namely Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 DSC, the usage of Class 1 and Class 2 DSC is discontinued in India. Class 3 DSC is now mandated to be used for all types of transactions in India.
Class 3 DSC provides the highest level of assurance and trust issued in the name of individuals as well as organizations. Applicants are required to appear before the certifying authority of the registration authority for obtaining Class 3 DSC. It comes with a validity of one or two or three years.
The three types of certificates are; Signature Certificate, Encryption Certificate and Document Signer Certificate.
The signature certificate is corresponding to the signing private key. It will be used by individuals or organizations for signing purpose.
Encryption Certificate is used to encrypt and decrypt the data. The encryption key pair is used by the subscriber for receiving encrypted messages which is encrypted using subscriber’s public key.
The Document Signer Certificates are issued to organizational software applications for operating automatically and authenticate documents/information attributed to the organization by using Digital Signature applied on the document, documents/Information.
As per CCA guidelines, renewal of digital signatures requires fresh identity verification. Go ahead and renew your digital signature certificate in a few simple steps. Click on Renew Certificate to get started.
eMudhra, a Certifying Authority (CA) licensed by CCA, offers secure digital signatures through various options tailored to suit individual as well as organizational needs. Click on Buy Certificate to get started. You can choose your certificate type and provide your contact information so that our sales team will get in touch with you to guide and walk you through the entire application process.
To purchase a USB crypto token :
i. Visit Astha Infosoft and click on the Buy Token menu.
ii. You do have an option to choose the token based on your Operating System, Windows/MAC.
iii.Post your selection, fill in the billing information, check your product summary and proceed to pay. Once the steps are complete you will receive a Purchase reference number and the token will be delivered to your registered shipping address.
This facility is enabled for applying Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) in a paperless manner using “PAN” OR “Aadhaar Paperless Offline eKYC” for Indian Nationals and Local Goverment issued ID proof and Address Proof for Foreign Nationals.
In order to use DSC on a GST website follow the below steps:
Step1: Click on register/update DSC
Step2: Select the Authorized Signatory and click on Update then click Continue
Step3: Select the Authorized Signatory DSC >>Click on sign
Your DSC will be updated in the GST portal.
To register and use your DSC on MCA portal, follow the below steps:
Step1: Go to Help & FAQS >>Click on Downloading and Installing the web socket and install emSigner
Step2: Under MCA services select Associate DSC
Step3: Select Designation, fill in the required information and select the certificate
Your DSC will be updated in the MCA portal.
You can use Digital Signature Certificate on EPFO website by following the steps below:
Step1: Login to EPFO website and click on establishment
Step2: Click on DSC/esign and enter the required details (Authorized signatory name, Designation, mobile number)>> click on Submit
Step3: Once JAVA is loaded, select the certificate and click on Register.
