What the document is, what Indian universities actually call it, who is allowed to request it — and how it differs from a transcript, an apostille and a credential evaluation.
A genuineness certificate is a confirmation issued by the university that awarded a qualification, stating that the degree, marksheets or other records presented in a person’s name were genuinely issued by that institution. It is the awarding institution — not the applicant, and not an agency — that makes the statement.
The document answers one narrow question: did this institution issue these records to this person? It is normally produced by the university’s examination or registrar office, on university letterhead, and released through a channel the university controls. It does not grade the qualification, convert it into another country’s system, or make it valid abroad. Those are separate processes, covered further down this page.
“Genuineness certificate” is a real term, but it is not a national standard, and it is more common in some states than others. Indian universities publish this service under several different names. The wording on the awarding university’s own website is the one that matters when you apply. Published examples:
A bonafide certificate is a different document. Indian institutions use it to confirm that someone is currently enrolled, not to authenticate a qualification that has already been awarded.
Requests generally come from a party that will rely on the qualification and wants the institution to confirm it rather than the applicant. In practice that means foreign employers and their screening vendors, immigration and licensing authorities, embassies and consulates as part of a document-legalisation chain, and education ministries assessing a foreign qualification for recognition.
The United Arab Emirates is a documented example of the last of these. The UAE government describes recognition of a university certificate as having two distinct stages, the first being verification of the degree with a Ministry of Education partner; the Ministry’s applicant kit states that its verification provider confirms authenticity by approaching the issuing university or institute directly. That is a Ministry of Education equivalency step, and it is separate from attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Several Indian universities accept verification requests only from an employer or an authorised agency, and not from the graduate. Visvesvaraya Technological University states that requests for genuineness of a document are accepted from employers, government departments, agencies authorised by employers, embassies, immigration authorities and similar bodies, and not directly from students. Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology describes its education verification service as one it entertains from the candidate’s employer, or from a third-party agency acting on the employer’s behalf. The University of Allahabad addresses its verification form to the employer, institute or agency requesting verification. Manonmaniam Sundaranar University asks for an employer’s requisition among the submissions.
Other institutions accept both routes. IIT Bombay publishes one verification form for students and alumni and a separate form for outside agencies and government organisations. Goa University addresses authentication of examination documents to university alumni directly.
Establish the awarding university’s rule before applying. Where an institution accepts only employer or agency requests, an application filed by the graduate will not progress, regardless of who submits it.
Requirements differ by institution, but university pages commonly ask for some combination of: copies of the marksheets and the degree or provisional certificate for which verification is sought; the roll or registration number and the year of award; a government photo identity document; the university’s own prescribed application or requisition form; the prescribed fee; and, where the university requires it, a request letter from the employer or agency.
Published fees vary substantially between institutions, and several universities charge different amounts depending on whether the purpose is domestic employment, higher study or an overseas position. Treat any single figure quoted online as that one university’s fee rather than a standard rate.
FACTS Transcripts & Verification Inc. assists applicants with the administrative side of a verification request: identifying which office handles it at the awarding institution, establishing that institution’s current published requirements, assembling the documents it asks for, submitting the application through the route it accepts, and following it up.
FACTS Transcripts & Verification Inc. is not an agent of, nor a partner appointed by, any university. It acts for the applicant.
The sequence below is typical. The exact steps, forms and channel are set by the awarding institution.
Find the awarding university’s own published procedure: what it calls the document, which office issues it, who is permitted to apply, and what it charges.
Complete the prescribed form and submit it with the documents and fee the university specifies, through the route it accepts — online portal, post, or a request from an employer or authorised agency.
The examination or registrar office checks the details against its own records and prepares the confirmation. Time taken varies by institution and with how old the records are.
The university releases the confirmation in the form it permits — a letter to the applicant, a sealed envelope, or a reply sent directly to the employer, embassy or agency that asked.
These overlap, and are often the same underlying act described two ways. “University verification” is the process: the institution checking a claim against its own records. A genuineness certificate is one possible output of that process — a document you receive. Some universities complete the verification without issuing a certificate at all, replying directly to the employer or agency instead. Ask the institution which it does before promising a recipient a physical certificate.
A transcript is a record of what was studied and achieved: subjects, marks or grades, credits and results. A genuineness certificate says nothing about academic performance; it confirms authenticity. A credential evaluator generally needs the transcript. An embassy or employer checking for document fraud generally needs the verification. Being asked for one does not satisfy a request for the other, and the two are usually separate applications to the same university.
An apostille is issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and certifies the signature and seal of the official who signed the document — not the truth of its contents. MEA states that it legalises documents on the basis of the signature of the designated signing authorities of the State Government or Union Territory, and that it therefore does not take responsibility for the contents of the documents. India has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 since it entered into force for India on 14 July 2005. An apostille is the route for countries that are party to that Convention.
For countries outside the Apostille Convention, the equivalent route is normal attestation by MEA followed by legalisation at that country’s embassy or consulate. MEA describes normal attestation as the process for countries that are not members of the Hague Convention and where an apostille is not accepted. Which route applies depends on the destination country, and this changes over time: Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention with effect from 7 December 2022, while the United Arab Emirates and Qatar remain outside it. Two further points are often missed — since July 2012 MEA does not accept documents directly from individuals, and documents are pre-authenticated through Regional Authentication Centres before reaching MEA.
A credential evaluation — by WES, IQAS, ICES, CES or a comparable body — states what an Indian qualification is equivalent to in the destination country’s system. That is a judgement about level and comparability, not an authenticity check carried out by the awarding university. WES sets document requirements per institution and per credential through its Required Documents tool, and generally expects academic documents to be sealed by the institution; where an institution will not send documents directly, WES describes an applicant-forwarded, institution-sealed envelope as a possible alternative. The term “genuineness certificate” does not appear in WES’s published document requirements, so a genuineness certificate should not be assumed to substitute for the documents WES actually asks for.
The University Grants Commission recognises institutions. It maintains lists of valid universities, of colleges under sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act 1956, and of self-styled and fake universities. It does not verify an individual’s degree and does not issue genuineness certificates. The Association of Indian Universities accords academic equivalence to degrees obtained from accredited foreign boards and universities for use in India; its published remit is equivalence of foreign qualifications, not authentication of Indian university records.
If you arrived here from a page about a specific university, this is a general service page and does not contain that institution’s requirements. There is no single national procedure in India for this document, so there is none to reproduce here. What differs between institutions includes:
The authoritative source in every case is the awarding institution’s own examination or registrar page. Where FACTS assists, part of the work is establishing which of the above applies before anything is submitted.
Verification depends on the institution still holding a retrievable record. We are not aware of published national guidance in India covering very old records, defunct institutions, or colleges that have closed, and this page does not invent one. What can be said accurately:
If a record cannot be retrieved, no agency can produce a substitute for it, and any offer to do so should be treated as a warning sign.
Each link below is the official page for a specific statement made above. Procedures and fees change; the institution’s own page is authoritative on the day you apply.
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It is a confirmation issued by the university that awarded a qualification, stating that the degree, marksheets or other records presented in a person’s name were genuinely issued by that institution. It confirms authenticity only. It does not describe academic performance, and it does not make a qualification valid in another country.
No. The term is real but it is not a national standard, and it is more common in some states than others. The same function is published by other Indian universities as verification of genuineness, genuineness verification certificate, authentication of examination documents, verification of academic records, degree verification or education verification. Use the name and procedure published by the awarding institution.
This varies by university and should be checked first. Visvesvaraya Technological University states that requests for genuineness of a document are accepted from employers, government departments, authorised agencies, embassies and immigration authorities, and not directly from students. Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology accepts requests from the candidate’s employer or a third-party agency acting for the employer. IIT Bombay, by contrast, publishes separate forms for students and alumni and for outside agencies, and Goa University addresses document authentication to alumni directly.
There is no standard processing time, and this page does not quote one. The time taken is set by the awarding institution and depends on its own procedure, the channel used, how old the records are, and its workload. Any specific number of days you see quoted for Indian universities generally should be treated with caution; ask the institution, or ask us to establish its current position before you commit to a deadline.
No. A genuineness certificate comes from the university. An apostille is issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and certifies the signature and seal of the official who signed a document rather than the truth of its contents. Apostille applies to countries party to the Hague Apostille Convention, which has been in force for India since 14 July 2005. For countries outside the Convention the route is normal attestation by MEA followed by legalisation at that country’s embassy or consulate. Depending on the destination and the recipient, you may need more than one of these.
The term does not appear in WES’s published document requirements. WES sets requirements per institution and per credential through its Required Documents tool, and generally expects academic documents to be sealed by the institution; where an institution will not send documents directly, WES describes an applicant-forwarded, institution-sealed envelope as a possible alternative. Check the requirements WES generates for your institution rather than assuming a genuineness certificate will be accepted in place of them.
Some universities do release results directly to the requesting employer, agency or authority, and some release only to the applicant. Several accept a request only when it comes from the employer or agency in the first place, in which case the reply goes back to them. Establish the awarding institution’s release practice before promising a recipient a particular delivery method.
Verification depends on the institution still holding a retrievable record, and there is no published national guidance in India covering closed institutions or very old records. Where a college was autonomous, the college that issued the document may be the only body able to verify it. Where a university has been renamed or merged, which successor holds the records is an institution-specific question. If a record cannot be retrieved, no agency can produce a substitute for it.
No. The University Grants Commission recognises institutions and maintains lists of valid universities, of colleges under sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act 1956, and of self-styled and fake universities; it does not verify individual degrees. The Association of Indian Universities accords equivalence to qualifications obtained from accredited foreign boards and universities for use in India; its published remit is equivalence of foreign qualifications, not authentication of Indian university records.
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