There is no denying that we live in a digital world. Even in a post-pandemic era, digital transactions will continue to hold sway, for their ease of operation and unparalleled ability to connect people regardless of time zones or locations. Organisations aimed at simplifying these transactions are therefore, well-placed for success in times to come.
Signed paperwork is necessary for all modern commercial transactions. Traditionally, this was based solely on physical paper usage, bringing on huge logistical and operational challenges for businesses by causing delays, inconvenience and often times bad customer experiences. Fortunately, there is now a solution for this with the launch of Leegality. Founded in 2016, this start-up aims to liberate Indian companies from the drudgery of constantly having to using paper for every step in their daily business.
Shivam Singla – Founder and CEO of Leegality says, “leveraging the IT Act, we have built a ‘made for India’ SaaS solution that offers businesses a unified platform to sign and collect electronic signatures, pay stamp duty digitally and manage other critical compliance and workflow aspects of document execution in a highly automated way. This offers companies a faster, easier and more secure way to kickstart commercial relationships with customers, business partners, employees and agents.”
Through Leegality, signing, stamping and storing an agreement with the Bank is as easy as making a payment for your Swiggy order. Their vision has clearly struck a chord with many, allowing them to clock a revenue of approximately Rs 1 crore a month, with more than 850 Indian businesses using them to digitize their critical paperwork.
In a country largely distrustful of technology, it was not easy for Leegality to make inroads, but with persistence and time, they overcame this reluctance. “Our initial customers were early stage startups who were more willing to experiment, and then we managed to onboard an increasing number of enterprise customers. Now, five years since our founding, we have become the market standard for document execution for Indian businesses of all sizes,” shares Singla with pride.
Covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns certainly helped their growth further, as digitiation became the norm. Since document execution is critical to keep business flowing—companies and organisations readily turned to Leegality during this time. Existing customers helped spread the word and brought in new customers, as did their active presence on social media, which helped potential customers become aware of their services.
As a horizontal solution, Leegality caters to all types of organisations. However, they have witnessed the highest rate of success in organisations with document-heavy daily operations such as banking and financial institutions. In fact, with heavyweights like HDFC, ICICI, etc, on board, the BFSI sector has been their biggest industry supporter thus far.
The arduous process of getting a single document signed is long and complicated—right from procuring the right stationary, to buying the requisite stamp papers, printing and collating the documents, filling information, verifying information, sharing scans, sending couriers, running office boys, getting physical signatures, verifying signatures and communicating approvals, to safely storing the documents. Further, the document can become a pain to track down and retrieve later when it might be needed for enforcement or required for an RBI audit. At BFSI organizations, this process is repeated numerous times every day, and hence, this sector benefits the most from adopting a safe process for digital documentation.
“We strictly comply with the master laws pertinent to us, such as the Information Technology Act, Evidence Act and Indian stamping laws, for our eStamping service. This means that our services can be used legally for 99% of all cases,” shares Singla. At the moment, Leegality is all set for growth with a complete nation-wide expansion and are hiring through a remote onboarding and orientation process. This will be done primarily through social media, employee referrals, consultants and applications in job portals.
With the useful and timely nature of its services and the easy to navigate platform it has introduced, Leegality is a company to watch for. Organisations can avail their services through the website leegality.com. Becoming digitally proficient will pave the road for companies to become more efficient operations equipped for the expectations of the future.
The writer is a lawyer who pens lifestyle articles for numerous publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.