Maharashtra state government is planing to phase out stamp papers. Stamp papers can be vulnerable to forgery and hence the government is planing to replace them with more secure ways like e-challans and e-Secured Bank cum Treasury Receipts (eSBTR).
Earlier the state government has lowered the minimum limit on payment of stamp duty by eSBTR to Rs 100 from Rs 5,000.
Anil Kawade, Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps confirmed they were considering phasing out physical stamp papers. “We want to ensure that most payments are done online or through means like eSBTR which will not require the purchase of stamp papers,” said Kawade to DNA.
What is stamp paper
When certain transactions take place, such as buying, selling or leasing property, the central or state government wants you to pay a certain amount to the them. This is done via purchase of stamp paper which is a proof that the payment has been made to the government.
What is E-stamping
The Indian government introduced e-stamping to tackle counterfeiting and make the payment of stamp duty easier and glitch free. In fact, in certain states, such as Delhi, all stamp duty needs to be paid through e-stamping.
The e-stamping is a computer-based application and a secure electronic way of stamping documents by replacing the existing system of physical use of stamp paper or franking.
Advantages of E-Stamping
E- stamping provides citizens the freedom to choose the time and pace at which they want to generate the stamp paper. Citizens can also avoid the hassle of stamp vendors and banks. And it also saves the citizens from a common problem that is of looking out for stamp papers of specific denominations.
