You've downloaded a document from DigiLocker — your driving licence, marksheet, Aadhaar, or vehicle RC — and now your PDF viewer is showing a yellow warning icon or the message "Signature Not Valid" or "Signature Validity Unknown." This is one of the most commonly misunderstood PDF errors in India, and it affects virtually every DigiLocker document. Here's everything you need to know — and the fastest way to fix it.
Job Interviews & Offer Letters: Many companies now request DigiLocker documents for address proof, identity, or educational qualification. When HR staff open the PDF and see "Signature Not Valid," it can raise unnecessary doubts — even though the document is perfectly genuine.
Bank KYC & Account Opening: Banks accepting DigiLocker documents for KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance may flag documents with unverified signatures during digital verification checks.
College & University Admissions: Students submitting DigiLocker marksheets or certificates during admission may face queries about the signature status from admission committees unfamiliar with Indian government PKI.
Government & Legal Submissions: Submitting DigiLocker documents to courts, regulatory bodies, or foreign authorities may require a cleanly verified digital signature.
DigiLocker documents are signed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) using certificates issued under India's national PKI, governed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA). Global PDF viewers — Adobe Acrobat, Foxit, and browser-based viewers — rely on the Adobe Approved Trust List (AATL) and similar global trust stores. India's CCA root certificate is not part of these lists. So while NIC's certificate is perfectly valid and legally recognised in India, your PDF viewer doesn't know that — and it displays a warning.
Manual Fix — Install NIC Root Certificate: You can download the CCA India root certificate and the NIC intermediate certificate from the official CCA website (cca.gov.in), then import them into Adobe Acrobat's Trust Manager under Preferences. This is a multi-step process that requires administrator access on your computer and must be done separately on every machine. It doesn't help when you share the document — the recipient's device also needs the certificates installed.
VerifySign.in — Faster & Shareable: Upload your DigiLocker PDF to VerifySign.in. Within seconds, VerifySign.in verifies the NIC signature cryptographically and produces a new PDF with Long-Term Validation (LTV) data embedded inside it. This LTV data carries the complete verification proof within the file itself — so any PDF viewer, on any device, anywhere in the world, will display a green tick without needing to install anything. You get a file you can share confidently.
Yes — absolutely. DigiLocker documents are legally valid under the IT Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries Providing Digital Locker Facilities) Rules, 2016. A DigiLocker document is legally equivalent to the original physical document, regardless of whether the PDF viewer displays a green tick. The signature warning is a viewer limitation, not a legal defect.
However, in practice, the green tick eliminates confusion. Many people — HR professionals, bank staff, college administrators — are not aware of this legal nuance. A verified PDF with a green tick removes doubt instantly and prevents your documents from being unnecessarily questioned.
Instant digital signature verification for any government PDF — free, secure, no software needed.
Go to VerifySign.in →