How State Governments Can Create Business Opportunities With Digital Stamp Duty Collection Technology From Pitney Bowes

State governments and revenue departments across India have historically struggled with the pervasiveness of fake stamp papers as well as challenges around stamp paper procurement and availability, logistics and distribution, fraud and damage, and shortages of required denominations. This has been exacerbated by the lack of tracking and document authentication and verification processes in the current stamp issuance system. 

Consequently, state revenue departments have tightened procedures and increased the level of scrutiny around issuing licenses to stamp vendors in a concerted effort to reduce the potential loss of revenue for departments.

To help mitigate these challenges and better support state governments to achieve more secure and seamless revenue collection, Pitney Bowes’ Secured Revenue Evidencing Solutions has introduced its new digital stamp duty solution, the B700 Version 2 Tax Meter. The new solution will facilitate digital reach to help citizens pay stamp duty in a more convenient, simple, and secure way.

With the support of Pitney Bowes, the B700 Version 2 Tax Meter will be implemented at district revenue department offices; banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), and other financial institutions’ branches as well as at stamp vendors’ kiosks. The solution will also be installed in rural areas where there are connectivity or network bandwidth issues. 

How stamp vendors can leverage the benefits of digital stamp duty collection:

The new technology ensures stamp papers can be issued instantly, as booklets are printed and can be franked directly, saving both time and paper. It also speeds up the disbursement process, reducing the wait time needed to organise documents to one-to-two days or until other documents and formalities, such as notarising, are complete.
 
Digital solutions like the B700 Version 2 Tax Meter further create room for secured evidencing, as it prioritises autonomy, flexibility, and accountability. And, the online process also ensures the correct denominations are available and affords greater accountability to the government in terms of tracking and mapping transactions. Comprehensive reporting capabilities ensure governments can monitor and review transaction data in an instant. And, as state departments decentralise stamps, printing in-house with high levels of control becomes possible.

The state department-licensed machines will help to more securely manage the inventory, logistics, and costs associated with issuing and printing stamp papers. 

Across the country, state governments have approved the inclusive technology to create more employment opportunities, an initiative that has brought sidelined stamp vendors back into business with the use of the stamp franking technology. This has been achieved by issuing vending licenses to solopreneurs who fulfil the requisite conditions to become stamp vendors. Under the Stamp Act, state governments pay commission to stamp vendors, which is comparable to the commission paid on physical stamp paper issuance. Stamp vendors can operate from any location, including tier two or tier three cities or rural areas and can earn in the range of INR 15,000 – 50,000 per month through commissions. While vending stamp documents, vendors also typically operate other businesses such as photocopiers and printing centers.

The two-years trend of falling revenues from stamp duty collections and registration of property documents are reversing, showing an impressive increase in stamp duty collection compared to the previous year, likely bolstered by the real estate industry’s pandemic recovery. These trends demonstrate the opportunities in stamp vending for small to medium business owners as well as large banks, NBFCs, Chit funds, and financial securities companies to expand both their operations and citizen reach. 

P Sandhya Rani, Licensed Stamp vendor “I am able to manage customer queues faster and in the most efficient way. The stamp vending has opened ancillary work like typing, printing, photocopying, notarizing, etc adding to my monthly earnings.”

Venkat Rao, Vice President & Country Head, Sending Technology Solutions, ANZ, India & ASEAN, Pitney Bowes 

About Pitney Bowes:

Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients around the world, including 90 per cent of the Fortune 500, rely on the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions, analytics, and application programming interfaces (APIs) in the areas of e-commerce fulfilment; shipping and returns; cross-border e-commerce; office mailing and shipping; presort services; and financing. For 100 years Pitney Bowes has been innovating and delivering technologies that remove the complexity of getting commerce transactions precisely right. 

Pitney Bowes solutions support governments, e-commerce, logistics, banking and financial organisations to become more agile using the latest technologies to enable smarter citizen-centric initiatives such as postal solutions or stamp duty collection. 

In its 102-year history of serving governments, Pitney Bowes has formed long-term relationships with national, regional, and state governments across the world, resulting in a long list of references. Pitney Bowes has a proven track record, with a dedicated focus on its clients’ most critical needs, delivering lasting transformative solutions involving the integration of processes, people, and systems. It is committed to playing a pivotal role in transforming stamp duty collection system in the country, driving the government’s ‘Digital India’ focus.

Pitney Bowes in India was incorporated in 2004, headquartered in New Delhi. The company has sales and service offices in Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Mumbai with coverage in major tier two and tier three cities through a direct as well as an indirect presence. Pitney Bowes has invested in global product development centers in Noida and Pune with a focus on innovation, value creation, and enhancing intellectual property.

“Pitney Bowes thanks the State Revenue departments that have made us partners in their stamp duty digitization charter. Our secured revenue evidencing solutions have helped state governments as well as 1000+ stamp vendors and banking customers in secured and seamless revenue collection, facilitating digital reach to their citizens to pay stamp duty in a convenient, simple, and highly-secure manner.” – Venkat Rao, Vice President & Country Head, Sending Technology Solutions, ANZ, India & ASEAN, Pitney Bowes.