A net worth certificate is a chartered accountant's signed statement of a person's or entity's assets less liabilities as at one specified date, verified against records and issued with a UDIN.
What it is not matters as much. It is not a valuation, because assets are stated on a disclosed basis rather than appraised for market price. It is not an audit, and it carries no opinion on whether you can repay anything. It speaks to one date and to the records that were produced, and the certificate names both on its face.
No Indian statute defines the document. There is no section of any Act you can point a bank to. What gives the certificate its weight is the professional framework the signatory works within, which is why the identity and standing of the signatory is the whole of the certificate's value.
The document is the same shape in every case. What changes is the format the recipient expects, the date the figure must speak to, and which holdings they will count. Pick the route that matches who asked.
| If the request came from | You need | Fee from | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nobody specific, or general purpose | This page. Ask us directly. | ₹1,500 | 24 to 72 hours |
| A consulate or visa centre | Net worth certificate for visa | ₹3,999 | 24 to 72 hours |
| A bank, for a CC, OD or term loan | Net worth certificate for turnover | ₹3,999 | 24 to 72 hours |
| A tender or GeM bid document | Net worth certificate for tender | ₹4,499 | 24 to 72 hours |
| A broker or depository participant | Net worth certificate for demat | ₹2,999 | 24 to 72 hours |
| You are in or near Kolkata | Net worth certificate, Kolkata office | ₹1,500 | 24 to 72 hours |
If you are not sure which of these the request maps to, send us the exact wording the recipient used. That one line usually decides the whole engagement, and getting it wrong is the most common reason a certificate is returned.
Consulates and visa centres. Most consulates publish a document checklist that asks for evidence of funds rather than for a net worth certificate by name. The certificate is how applicants evidence holdings that a bank statement alone does not show, such as property and investments. Acceptance is the consulate’s decision, so treat the certificate as strong supporting evidence rather than as a guaranteed outcome. We format it to the checklist the consulate publishes, sign it through a practising chartered accountant and carry a UDIN the visa officer can verify. What we will not do is promise acceptance, because that is not ours to promise, and any provider who does is telling you something they cannot control.
Lenders. A bank assessing a credit facility wants the position after encumbrances. Adding up what you own without deducting what is charged against it produces a larger number and a shorter conversation, because the credit officer performs the subtraction anyway and then wonders what else was left out.
Tender and procurement bodies. Read the eligibility clause carefully, because most of them ask for turnover rather than net worth. The standard GeM clause asks for minimum average annual turnover over three years, evidenced by certified audited balance sheets or a certificate from a chartered accountant or cost accountant. Individual tender conditions from PSUs, railways and state works departments frequently add a separate net worth threshold on top. Those are two different certificates and bidders routinely supply one where the other was wanted. DPIIT recognised startups are exempt from the GeM bidder turnover and experience criteria, subject to meeting the quality and technical specifications.
Brokers and depository participants. This is where the internet is most confidently wrong. SEBI does not require a net worth certificate to open an ordinary demat account. Income proof is required only to activate the derivatives, currency or commodity segments, and a net worth certificate is one acceptable proof among several. A Form 16, an ITR acknowledgement or a six month bank statement will satisfy most brokers. Where a certificate genuinely is required is for a non individual account, such as a partnership firm, LLP or company opening a demat account, and for SEBI intermediary registrations that carry their own prescribed net worth thresholds. If a broker has asked you for one, ask them which of those situations applies before you commission anything.
| Deliverable | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Signed certificate | On letterhead, naming the person or entity, the date the figure speaks to and the purpose it was issued for, with a UDIN generated against it on the ICAI portal. |
| Statement of affairs annexure | Every asset and liability on its own line with the valuation basis stated beside it, so a reader who disputes one figure can see the reasoning rather than only the number. |
| Valuation basis note | A short note giving the basis chosen for each asset that has no quoted price, in particular immovable property and unlisted shareholdings. |
| Charge and encumbrance summary | Which assets carry a registered charge, and what is left once those charges are set against the borrowings they secure. |
| Drafted to the recipient's format | The certificate drawn to the wording the consulate, bank, tender committee or broker asks for, confirmed with you before signature. |
| Signed PDF plus letterhead copies | A signed PDF for immediate submission and hard copies, with notarisation arranged where the receiving body expects it. |
| Reissue on a changed date | A fresh certificate on refreshed records where the recipient wants a later date. Never a re dating of the certificate already issued. |
Source records, not summaries. Each figure in the statement is traced back to the document that governs it.
| Problem | Why it happens | How we handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Returned for the wrong format | Consulates, banks and tender committees each prescribe their own wording. A general template matches none of them. | The recipient's format is confirmed before drafting, not after signature. |
| Holdings counted that cannot be evidenced | Household gold, money lent to a friend and property in a relative’s name all feel like wealth, but no record ties them to the person certified. | Anything untraceable is put back to you, then either evidenced properly or shown on the certificate as excluded. |
| A gross total where a net position was wanted | Assets added up without deducting what is secured against them. | Borrowings are netted against the assets securing them and every registered charge is disclosed. |
| No basis given for an unquoted asset | A number with no stated basis invites the reader to substitute their own, and theirs is always more conservative. | Every asset without a market price carries its valuation basis in the annexure. |
| The date has drifted | No statute sets a validity period, so each recipient applies its own recency rule while the application sits in a queue. | A later date is treated as a new engagement on refreshed records. |
| Certificate | Professional fee | Government fee |
|---|---|---|
| General purpose, individual | From ₹1,500 | None |
| General purpose, entity | From ₹3,000 | None |
| For demat or broking | From ₹2,999 | None |
| For visa | From ₹3,999 | None |
| For turnover, bank facility | From ₹3,999 | None |
| For tender or GeM | From ₹4,499 | None |
| Kolkata office | From ₹1,500 | None |
Talk to a CA. Call +91 72783 76654, WhatsApp the same number, or email info@corporatewalla.com. Callback in 30 minutes.
Twenty four to seventy two hours from the point your records are complete, across every certificate in the cluster. That qualifier carries the weight. The variable is almost never the drafting, which is a day’s work. It is how long it takes you to produce a title document, a demat statement as at the right date, or a loan balance confirmation the bank has to issue on its own timetable. A straightforward individual file with bank statements and one property closes inside 24 hours. A file with unlisted shareholdings, several properties or records that need reconstructing takes the full 72, and occasionally longer, in which case we tell you that at the first call rather than at the deadline.
On the UDIN itself, ICAI allows 60 days from the date of signing for the number to be generated, extended from 15 days by the Council in September 2021 to align with SQC 1 and SA 230. In practice we generate it at signature, because a certificate handed over without its UDIN is a certificate the recipient cannot verify.
| Document | What it states | Typically asked for by |
|---|---|---|
| Net worth certificate | Assets less liabilities on one date | Consulates, lenders, brokers, tender committees |
| Turnover certificate | Revenue over a stated period, usually three years | Tender and GeM bid eligibility, current account opening |
| Solvency certificate | That the person can meet obligations up to a stated sum | Courts, tender earnest money, some licensing bodies |
| Audited financial statements | A full audited position and performance for a financial year | Statutory filing, investors, larger credit facilities |
| Bank balance confirmation | Balances held with one bank on one date | Visa evidence of funds, simple credit checks |
If a bank has asked for audited accounts off a statutory audit, a net worth certificate adds nothing. If a tender named a sum you must be good for, a solvency certificate answers that and a net worth certificate does not. If the requirement is a valuation of one property, a registered valuer is the right professional and a chartered accountant is not. We would rather tell you that on the first call than issue a document that comes back.
Because no statute defines this document, anyone can produce something that looks like one. What a recipient can actually check is the signature. The UDIN is the mechanism, and it is worth understanding what it does.
ICAI made UDIN mandatory for all certification by practising chartered accountants with effect from 1 February 2019, following the Council decision at its 379th meeting in December 2018. GST and tax audit reports followed on 1 April 2019 and all other attest functions on 1 July 2019. The number is an 18 digit string generated on the ICAI portal, and it lets a bank, consulate or broker confirm that a practising chartered accountant issued the document, without contacting the firm at all. A certificate without one invites a query at the point in your process where you have the least time to answer it.
Official sources: icai.org, udin.icai.org, mca.gov.in, incometax.gov.in, gem.gov.in.
No statute sets a validity period, because the certificate speaks to one named date rather than to a window of time. Each recipient applies its own recency rule instead. Consulates and lenders commonly want a date within the last three to six months. Where an application has been sitting in a queue, expect to be asked for a fresh certificate on a later date rather than an extension of the first.
Only assets the individual legally owns on the certificate date. Property standing in a spouse's or parent's name stays out even where the individual paid for it. So do the assets of a firm in which the person is a partner, because those belong to the firm. Jointly held assets enter at the individual's share, not at the full value.
Either basis is defensible, but the basis has to be stated. Cost comes from the sale deed and is easy to evidence. Market value needs a registered valuer's report or the applicable circle rate. Silently mixing the two across one schedule is the most common reason a lender sends a certificate back.
Usually not. SEBI does not require one to open an ordinary demat account. Income proof is required only to activate the derivatives, currency or commodity segments, and a net worth certificate is one acceptable proof among several. A Form 16, an ITR acknowledgement or a six month bank statement is generally enough. A certificate is genuinely needed where a firm, LLP or company is opening the account, or for SEBI intermediary registrations with their own net worth thresholds.
Yes. Every liability outstanding on the certificate date is deducted, including revolving card balances, personal and vehicle loans, and the drawn portion of an overdraft. We reconcile them against loan statements, because an undisclosed borrowing that surfaces later makes the whole certificate unreliable rather than just that line.
Yes, and it often has to be. Certificates are routinely issued as at 31 March, or as at the date a loan application or a bid was submitted. The evidence then has to be the position on that day rather than today’s balances, and the date appears on the face of the document.
Yes, and it is common for visa, immigration and property matters. We certify Indian assets from Indian evidence, and include overseas holdings only where you supply foreign bank or brokerage statements. Documents can be signed and shared electronically, so being outside India is not an obstacle. Where the same engagement also needs a return filed, that is NRI ITR filing.
No. Individuals are not required to have their personal affairs audited. The certificate rests on a statement of affairs you sign plus the underlying evidence. Where you run a business whose accounts are audited, those audited figures feed the business portion of the schedule.
Not until title passes. An asset still standing in a deceased parent's name is not yours, however certain the eventual inheritance. Once a will is probated or a succession or legal heir certificate is issued and mutation is recorded, the asset enters the schedule at your share.
Take the UDIN printed under the signature and verify it on the ICAI UDIN portal. It will confirm that a practising chartered accountant generated that number against a document of that type. Also check the firm registration number and the membership number, which appear beneath the signature on every certificate we issue.
Most people reach this page holding a requirement somebody else set. The useful next step is not to order a certificate. Go back to whoever asked and settle two things: the format they want, and the date the figure must speak to. Almost every returned certificate failed on one of those rather than on the arithmetic.
Send us the wording the recipient used and we will tell you which certificate answers it, and which of your records the position can actually be built from. Call or WhatsApp +91 72783 76654, or email info@corporatewalla.com. A CA calls back within 30 minutes.
Send us the wording the consulate, bank, tender committee or broker used, and a CA tells you which certificate answers it before anything is commissioned. Call 72783 76654. Mon–Sat, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM IST.
