UDIN or unique Document Identification Number is a 15-digits unique no. introduced and developed by Professional Development Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India which would be generated by the system for every document certified and attested by a practicing Chartered Accountant. UDIN system was implemented by ICAI on a re commendatory basis on 1st July 2018 but in view of the increasing instances of fraud and forgery involving the stamp and signature of Chartered Accountants, ICAI has made it mandatory for all the practicing Chartered Accountants with effect from 1st January 2019, to quote UDIN on all the certificates issued.

What you need to know

Hence, every CA in practice who would be certifying or attesting any document would have to sign up on the UDIN portal to register it and generate a UDIN. Especially, when the Chartered Accountants are supposed to certify that the Financial Information or related contents are true and fair, the use of UDIN is mandatory and the users or stakeholders can verify the same. This move was necessary to curb the malicious practices and also to bring more transparency into the system. 

UDIN once generated can be withdrawn or canceled anytime with narration. There is no restriction on the number of UDINs to be generated online by a CA. UDIN that have been generated would be displayed as watermarked on documents else the UDIN can be mentioned on the documents using a pen. The 15 digits of UDIN comprises of the Membership Number of the Member who is attesting the document or certificate, date when the certificate is issued and a document serial number that is allotted by the system.

UDIN can also be generated in the specific area of certificates like Goods & Service Tax Act, Companies Act, Income-tax Act, public finance and government accounting, etc. To register the certificate for generation of UDIN, the members have to compulsorily provide some important values, which are found in the attested document or certificate generated such as Turnover, Net profit, Import amount, Export amount, Input tax credit, Loan amount, Net loss, Total capital investment, etc. But all the details shall be provided very carefully as the data once submitted in the application cannot be modified by the members.

How to generate UDIN?

To generate a UDIN, the member needs to log in on the UDIN portal and enter the required details such as Document Issued, Document Description, Date of Document, Key Values etc. Now, enter the OTP received on the mobile and email id registered with the ICAI and click on “Preview” to check the details provided for generating the UDIN. Click on “Submit”. A UDIN will be generated and the member can use that UDIN on the document for which it has been generated.

UDIN will help the banks or third parties to check the authenticity of certificates or documents uploaded as these documents are relied upon and trusted by the end users and also to trace forged documents that are prepared or uploaded by any person other than Chartered Accountants.