eSign Your Statement of Work Online with Aadhaar
Nest clear, time bound SOWs under your Master Service Agreement. Legally valid under the Indian Contract Act 1872. ₹15 per signature.
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What is Statement of Work (SOW)?
A Statement of Work, usually shortened to SOW, is a project specific document that sits beneath a broader Master Service Agreement, or MSA. The MSA defines the long term commercial relationship between a service provider and a client, covering things like payment terms, confidentiality, liability, and IP at a framework level. Each individual project between the same two parties is then executed through a separate SOW that defines the specific deliverables, milestones, timelines, pricing, and acceptance criteria for that engagement.
This two layer structure is the standard way large Indian IT services firms, consulting firms, and creative agencies manage enterprise client relationships. It lets both sides move fast on new projects because the heavy legal and commercial clauses are already agreed in the MSA, so the SOW only needs to define what is being built, by when, for how much, and how acceptance will be judged. A typical SOW runs three to ten pages.
For the SOW to be effective, the deliverables must be described in concrete, measurable terms. Vague phrases like website redesign or marketing strategy cause disputes. Good SOWs list exact pages, exact reports, exact integrations, exact screen counts, or exact feature lists, along with out of scope items explicitly flagged. Acceptance criteria should state how the client will test each deliverable and how many revision rounds are included.
In India, SOWs are governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and are fully eligible for Aadhaar eSign under Section 3A of the IT Act, 2000. They do not require stamp paper, notarisation, or registration. Because SOWs often get signed three or four times a year per client, moving them to Aadhaar eSign is one of the highest leverage process improvements a services firm can make.
Sign your statement of work in 3 simple steps
No printing. No scanning. Just drop your PDF and sign.
Draft the SOW against your MSA
Define scope, deliverables, milestones, acceptance criteria, and fees. Reference the parent MSA at the top. Save as a PDF.
Upload the SOW and add signers
Upload the PDF into SignSetu. Add the vendor side signatory and all required client side approvers as signers.
Collect Aadhaar signatures in sequence
Each approver signs via Aadhaar OTP in the order you define. Once the last signature is captured, the signed SOW is delivered to everyone.
Who uses SignSetu for statements of work?
Real scenarios where Aadhaar eSign saves days of coordination.
IT services and software firms
Execute individual project contracts under an existing MSA with enterprise clients without redrafting every legal clause.
Management and strategy consultants
Define each discrete advisory engagement with clear deliverables, milestones, and acceptance criteria.
Design and creative agencies
Spin up project level contracts for new campaigns, brand work, or video productions under a master agreement.
Enterprise procurement teams
Standardise how vendors scope and price each new project so internal approvals are faster.
Essential clauses in a statement of work
Make sure your statement of work includes these clauses before you sign.
- Reference to the parent Master Service Agreement and its effective date
- Project background and objectives in plain language
- Detailed scope of work and list of deliverables
- Explicit out of scope items so the boundary is crystal clear
- Project timeline with milestones and target dates
- Acceptance criteria and testing process for each deliverable
- Total project fee and milestone linked payment schedule
- Number of revision rounds included per deliverable
- Roles and responsibilities of each party including client inputs required
- Change request process for scope or timeline adjustments
- Assumptions and dependencies that affect delivery
Common mistakes to avoid
Legal validity of an eSigned statement of work
A Statement of Work is a commercial contract and is enforceable under the Indian Contract Act, 1872. It is eligible for Aadhaar eSign under Section 3A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which treats a licensed eSign as equivalent to a handwritten signature. Because an SOW is usually nested inside a Master Service Agreement, the SOW itself only needs to define project specific commercial terms. The parent MSA should explicitly state that future SOWs may be executed electronically and incorporated by reference, which makes the eSign workflow fully compliant. SOWs do not require stamp paper, notarisation, or registration. Where the SOW involves delivery of copyrightable work such as software code, designs, reports, or content, the IP assignment clause should satisfy Section 19 of the Copyright Act, 1957, which requires an assignment of copyright to be in writing and signed by the assignor. An Aadhaar eSign satisfies that writing and signature requirement. Invoicing against the SOW must comply with the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, with tax invoices raised at each milestone or at the rhythm agreed in the SOW. For enterprise clients with long procurement cycles, SOWs sometimes go through multi party sign off including project sponsor, procurement, and finance. Aadhaar eSign handles this with sequential signing so each approver signs in turn. Disputes are typically resolved as per the governing law and dispute resolution clauses inherited from the parent MSA.
Reference: Indian Contract Act 1872 + Section 3A, IT Act 2000
Powered by eMudhra
Every signature is processed via eMudhra, a CCA-licensed eSign Service Provider (ESP) authorized under the IT Act, 2000.
Important note
This page is educational information, not legal advice. For high value SOWs under complex MSAs, have your legal team review before signing. GST invoicing obligations under the CGST Act, 2017 apply separately to each milestone.
Transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing
Pay only for what you sign. No subscription. No minimums.
Vendor + client sponsor = ₹30, add 1 more approver = ₹45
See full pricing detailsFrequently asked questions
Everything about eSigning your statement of work in India.
What is the difference between an MSA and an SOW?
Does an SOW need stamp paper in India?
Can the same SOW cover multiple phases of a long project?
Who signs the SOW on each side?
How are change requests handled after the SOW is signed?
Can the SOW be signed before the MSA?
Related document guides
Other documents you can eSign with Aadhaar on SignSetu.
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