There are two kinds of stamp papers, judicial (court fee) stamp and Non-Judicial Stamp paper. The judicial stamp papers are used for court fees. The non-judicial stamp papers are being sold by the Government through stamp vendors. They are under the control of the Registration Department.
It is the duty of the stamp vendor to affix his seal and licence number with the year of appointment and serial number, along with the name and place of the buyer. The stamp papers are printed at the security press, Nasik and Hyderabad of various denominations ranging from Rs. 10 to Rs. 25,000. The impressed stamps or adhesive stamps are used in transaction of properties. Impressed stamps include labels affixed and impressed by the officers authorised by the Government and stamps embossed or engraved on stamp paper.
The genuineness of the stamp paper can be confirmed by examining distinctive features like Ashoka Pillar, four-headed lion emblem with the words “India Non- Judicial” in English and the words Satyameva Jayathe in Hindi. It also bears the water mark and security code parallel to the stamp paper. The water mark will be visible if transparent tracing paper is placed on the stamp paper.
The water mark is made in the stamp paper at the time of producing the stamp paper. The security thread (fibre) is embedded in stamp papers with high denominations of Rs. 10,000 and more. Earlier, in stamp papers with denominations less than Rs. 10,000 the security fibre was not embedded. However, after the fake stamp scan, the Government has decided to embed the security thread in all denominations. Impressed Papers of lower denominations are of uniform colour with watermark of Ashoka pillar and the words satyamevajayate on the plain part of it in Devanagari Script. Denomination of Rs.1,000 to 5,000 have the words "India non-judicial" on the printed part and watermark of Ashoka wheel and words "Government of India / Bharath Sarkar" on the plain part.
Higher denomination papers of Rs.10,000 to Rs.25,000 bear multicoloured print with a security thread on the left and also watermark similar to the lower denominations . These papers also have serial numbers printed on them. Alpha numeral letters starting with NSJP will be visible in the security thread on the left side in new stamp. The security thread will be bright and reflected in ultra violet light. The special adhesive stamps of any denomination have single colour print with Bharat in Devanagari scriptt and India in English with the notations- Brokers Note / Share Transfer / Insurance / Notarial / Foreign Bills printed on the Stamps. Impressed (non-judicial) Stamps above Rs.10,000 bear serial numbers.
