Institute of Company Secretaries of India launches Unique Document Identification Number to improve corporate governance

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has rolled out an initiative in the form of a Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) in an attempt to pursue heightened sense of self-governance and strengthen the practising side of company secretaries.
The UDIN will provide ease of maintaining register of attestation and certification services. It will prevent counterfeiting of various attestations and certifications besides ensuring compliance with regard to ceilings on the number of certifications and attestations.
The initiative will also enable stakeholders and regulators to verify genuinity of documents signed or certified by company secretaries in practice, according to a statement.
“Under the mechanism, an alpha numeric number will be generated for the identification of every document attested by practising company secretaries, which will act as a trust enhancer by facilitating verification that the document is genuinely signed or certified by a company secretary in practice,” said ICSI President C S Ranjeet Pandey.
The ICSI UDIN will be mandatory for every document except an e-form, signed or certified by a company secretary with from October 1.
The ICSI functions under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and sets standards for company secretary members. It has over 58,000 members and about 3.5 lakh students on its roll.

About ICSI
Institute of Company Secretaries of India is a statutory professional body in India with the objective of promoting, regulating and developing the profession of company secretaries in India. 
President: CS Ranjeet Kumar Pandey
Headquarters: New Delhi