Unique Document Identification Number

Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) is mandatory for all Certificates issued by Company Secretary in Practice w.e.f. 01st October 2019 

What is UDIN?Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) is system generated random alphanumeric number, which defines the authenticity of documents issued by Company Secretary in Practice.

Applicability of UDIN

UDIN is mandatory for documents/certificates to be issued from 01st October 2019.

Reason behind UDIN.

• The institute has come up with the concept of UDIN to enable the stakeholders to verify the authenticity of various documents certified by Company Secretaries in Practice.
• To trace forged documents.
• To enable the stakeholders to verify the authenticity of various documents certified by Company Secretaries in Practice;
• To prevent counterfeiting of various attestations / certifications;
• To provide ease of maintaining the Register of Attestation / Certification services rendered by practicing members;
• To ensure compliance of the Guidelines issued by the Institute w.r.t ceilings on the number of the various certification / attestation services the practitioners may render that;
• To auto-prefill details of Certification / Attestation services rendered by practicing members in of the form for renewal of Certificate of Practice.

Applicability To Documents 

UDIN shall be generated for the following services rendered by a Practising Company Secretary (hereinafter referred to as ‘the PCS’): 

(i) Certification of Annual Return in Form MGT-8 under Section 92(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 and Rule 11(2) of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014. 

(ii) Issuance of Secretarial Audit Report in terms of Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013. 

(iii) Issuance of Secretarial Audit Report to material unlisted subsidiaries of listed entities (whose equity shares are listed) Regulation 24A of SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015. 

(iv) Issuance of Annual Secretarial Compliance Report to Listed entities (whose equity shares are listed) under SEBI Circular No. CIR/CFD/CMD1/27/2019 dated 8th February, 2019. 

(v) Certification under SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 that none of the directors on the board of the company have been debarred or disqualified from being appointed or continuing as directors of companies by the Board/Ministry of Corporate Affairs or any such statutory authority under Schedule V, Part C, Clause(10)(i).

(vi) Certification under Regulation 40(9) of SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015 certifying that all certificates have been issued within thirty days of the date of lodgement for transfer, sub-division, consolidation, renewal, exchange or endorsement of calls/allotment monies. 

(vii) Conduct of Internal Audit of Operations of the Depository Participants registered with NSDL and CDSL under the Bye Laws issued by NSDL and CDSL. 

(viii) Certification under Regulation 76 of SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018 for Reconciliation of Share Capital Audit. 

(ix) Acting as Compliance Auditor under third party certification/ Audit Scheme (Amendment), 2016 in the State of Haryana. 

(x) Diligence reporting for Banks in case of multiple banking/consortium lending arrangements in terms of the circular issued by RBI. 

(xi) Conduct of Internal Audit of the stock brokers/sub brokers under SEBI Circular no. MIRSD/ DPSIII/ Cir-26/ 08 dated 22nd August 2008 and MRD/DMS/Cir-29/2008 dated 21st October 2008. 

(xii) Issuance of Certificate in case of the Indian company accepting the investment from a foreign investor, thereby confirming compliance of Companies Act, 2013 and other matters (As per Para 9 (1) (B) (i) of Schedule 1 to Notification No. FEMA 20/2000-RB dated 3rd May 2000) 

Provided further that the PCS may generate the UDIN for any other form including any eForm and document(s) which are not listed above and not mandatory as per these guidelines on voluntary basis.

UDIN Generation 

The PCS shall go to the designated website, and create a login id and password by entering the Membership Number, CoP No., Phone No., Email id, AADHAR and Income Tax PAN. 

(i) The login id would be verified through a computer application.

(ii) The UDIN shall be a system generated random alphanumeric number.

(iii) No document shall be required to be uploaded.

Applicable to: 

(i) Only Members with a valid Certificate of Practice can register at the designated website. 

(ii) UDIN cannot be generated unless the PCS is registered at the designated website. 

(iii) Only the member certifying the document may generate UDIN.

(iv) Regulatory bodies and other stakeholders may verify the authenticity of documents certified by PCS by visiting the designated website. 

(v) No fee for registration/generation of UDIN (vi) UDIN shall be shared on registered Email id of the concerned Member or through any other electronic mode. 

(vii) Name of recipient of the professional service, CIN /LLPIN / PAN No. of client (as the case may be) shall be disclosed at the time of generation of UDIN. 

(viii) UDIN shall be generated at the time of signing of Certificate / Report / Form / Other Documents or seven days in advance to the date of such signing as above.

A Certificate is signed on September 25, 2019. In such case, ideally the UDIN should be generated on September 25, 2019 but in exceptional cases, the UDIN may be generated 7 days in advance, i.e., any time during September 18, 2019 to September 25, 2019. Thereby providing a window of advance seven days for UDIN generation. 

(ix) UDIN once generated but not utilized may be surrendered/ cancelled by the PCS within 7 days of such generation.