Companies that operate via branches - like Banks and NBFCs - also heavily rely on paperwork for customer facing business.
The default way this paperwork gets done is physically - via paper.
But paper is a pain. It takes time, it is costly and creates a bad experience.
So many branches strive to go "paperless".
The easiest way to go paperless is to switch from physical signing to eSign of documents.
However this creates an apprehension: "If a customer is already travelling to a branch, does it make sense to even implement eSign?"
Many companies drop (or go slow) on their eSign projects due to this apprehension.
In this article, we'll address this apprehension - with an honest time study of how and where eSign can actually save time during branch operations.
Branch visits are not the only consequence of paper
People often think eSign is worthless for branch operations because of the following logic:
- Even if I adopt eSign - I still need to maintain the branch because it does many other functions
- Customers will still want to come to the branch - even if I adopt eSign. I cannot change this model
- Therefore adopting eSign will not allow me to eliminate branch visits - meaning eSign won't actually save me time.
This reasoning sounds simple and clear. But actually it is based on many false assumptions that have no bearing in reality.
Paper has a lot of other factors that sink a lot of time – beyond the branch visit. In fact these "other factors" cause the majority of paper related delays.
How paper based documents sink time
Let's take an example of a gold loan agreement flow:
- Branch staff prints the loan docket and procures stamp papers. Printer jams, stockouts, inventory chasing. 5–10 minutes.
- Branch officer manually fills KFS, agreement, form, DPN. Second staff member verifies every entry. 10–15 minutes.
- Customer signs every page of the 10–15 page kit. Branch officer cross-checks every signature. 5–10 minutes.
- Branch head provides the counter-signature. May be on another call, in another room, or out of branch. 2–5 minutes added per loan.
- Kit is scanned, uploaded, stored at branch, then couriered to a regional warehouse. Happens after the customer leaves - but adds ₹90–100 per loan and consumes branch-staff time every day.
This time and motion adds up to 30–35 minutes per customer at a paper-based branch (vs. 15–20 minutes at a digital one) - resulting in bad second order effects on the business:
- Customer wait time increases at branch - leading to crowding and a bad customer experience
- Due to point 1, you will lose some customers to digitally enabled alternatives
- Branch throughput is reduced - physically restricting how much business you can do in a day
Source: Leegality Gold Loan Playbook, 2025.
Deploying a paperless, eSign based process can eliminate the time delays and overcome these second order effects.
Where and how an eSign based process can save time
We are reproducing the gold loan process above - except this time with the paperless process on the right:
Five paper steps that consume 22–40 minutes of customer-facing branch time fold into an eSign flow that takes under 2 minutes. The middle steps - manual fill, multi-page signing, branch head counter-signing - collapse into a single near-instant action by the customer. The bookend steps (printing/stamping at the start, scanning and storage at the end) become software actions that run with no human involvement.
"Earlier it was average maybe five to seven minutes for printing, signing, filing, and then keeping that record. Now it's under two minutes." — Ganesh Vaidya, Chief Technology Officer, SBFC Finance
Data from the ground: How eSign saves time across industries
We analysed agreement execution times across industries to see if the time saving is specific to one use case or shows up broadly.
Here's the data:
Beyond the obvious need for speed, these time-savings are invaluable in industries where customer face time is critical to business growth:
"With the timesavings, our branch staff is now able to devote more attention to building meaningful relationships with the customer. This increases the number of referrals we receive from customers - growing business as a whole. — Pragnesh Sonenji, Chief Business Officer, SBFC Finance