An NDA is worth signing in exactly one situation: you are about to hand over something the other side could use without you. A corporate services office in Kharadi that sends a prospect its rate card and delivery method needs one. A SaaS founder in Hinjawadi who opens the architecture and the churn numbers to an investor needs one. A supplier who only receives your purchase order does not, and neither does a shop selling from a published catalogue. Draw that line before anyone drafts anything. An NDA signed where nothing confidential moves is filler, and a missing one turns a leak into an argument about what was said in a room.
What has to be settled before the drafting starts?
Six answers decide the shape of the document, and we ask for all six on the first call.
- Direction of disclosure: one party sharing, both sharing, or three or more parties inside a consortium
- The material you are actually protecting, listed by category rather than described as everything discussed
- The counterparty's full legal name, its CIN or GSTIN, and the person authorised to sign for it
- How long the duty of confidence has to survive after the engagement itself ends
- What you want on a breach: an injunction, money, return of material, or all three together
- The governing law and the place whose courts hear a dispute if one arises
Guess at these and the drafting becomes guesswork too. Answer them properly and the first draft reaches you in 1 to 2 days.
Who in Pune actually needs an NDA, and who does not?
- A corporate services office in Kharadi putting client data, pricing and delivery methods in front of a prospect before any contract exists
- A SaaS founder in Hinjawadi sharing product architecture, unit economics and a named customer list during a funding conversation
- A Baner brand owner handing artwork, tooling drawings and landed cost to a contract manufacturer
- A team hiring in Kothrud, where the joiner will see source code, a client database or the pricing sheet
- A family business in Pune opening its books to a buyer during due diligence
Now the honest correction. Not every Pune meeting needs paper. If you are receiving information and disclosing none, ask for a one way NDA in your favour instead of signing a mutual one out of politeness. If a master services agreement already carries a confidentiality clause, a second agreement over the same relationship usually creates two inconsistent obligations rather than one strong one.
Which office in Pune touches an NDA, and does it need registration?
None of them. No government counter issues a non disclosure agreement, so nothing here goes to PMC, to PCMC, or to a cantonment board at Camp, Khadki or Dehu Road. Registration is a separate question, and it is compulsory only for the instruments the law lists. Leave and licence agreements are compulsorily registrable in Maharashtra under section 55 of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999. A confidentiality agreement sits nowhere in that class, so it is signed and kept, not lodged.
That is worth knowing precisely because Pune is where the registration machinery sits. The head office of the Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Maharashtra State, is at Pune. Pune city itself registers documents through the Haveli series of Joint Sub Registrar offices, numbered Haveli No. 1 to Haveli No. 27, and there is no counter called Sub Registrar Pune. Your NDA never reaches any of them.
Stamp duty is the third question and the only one that can cost you money. Maharashtra has its own stamp statute, the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958, and duty is paid electronically through GRAS, the state's electronic receipt system, or by the e-SBTR route. What any given document attracts depends on what it is and what it is worth. We work that out for your agreement before it is signed, instead of publishing a figure on a web page.
What does an NDA cost, and which clauses must it carry?
Drafting starts at ₹1,999 and the draft is with you in 1 to 2 days. That fee covers the clause work below, a revision round and a signature ready file. Complexity moves the price, not your address: a three party consortium NDA, or one bolted to a technology transfer, takes longer than a straightforward mutual agreement between two Pune companies.
| Clause | What we settle | What a loose version costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Definition of confidential information | Named categories, marking rules and how oral disclosures are captured | The other side argues your customer list was never covered |
| Exclusions | Already public material, prior knowledge and independent development | The agreement reads as unreasonable and invites a challenge |
| Term and survival | How long the deal runs and how long the duty outlives it | An obligation that quietly expired months before the leak |
| Remedies | Injunction, damages, and return or destruction of material | A clear breach with no route to stop the disclosure spreading |
| Governing law and forum | Indian law, and the place whose courts hear the dispute | A Pune party arguing about forum before it argues the breach |
How we draft your NDA from our side
- We take your six answers on a call, and where the counterparty is a company we check its name and CIN against the MCA record.
- A CS on the team builds the clause plan and flags anything reaching past confidentiality into restraint of trade under section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
- You receive the draft with the negotiable clauses marked, so you know where to hold and where you can concede.
- We fold in your comments and the counterparty's markup, and reissue, usually inside a working day.
- We compute any stamp duty on the final instrument and show you how to pay it through GRAS before signature.
How long does the obligation run, and what does execution need?
Two clocks run inside an NDA and clients routinely confuse them. The term is how long the agreement itself stays alive, often the length of the discussion or the project. The survival period is how long the duty of confidence outlives it, commonly 2 to 5 years, and longer where the material is a genuine trade secret. An indefinite duty is the clause most often struck at, so we set a period we can defend.
Execution deserves the same care. Check that whoever signs for the counterparty is authorised to bind it, and take a board resolution or letter of authority when the signatory is not a director. Sign both counterparts, date them, and keep the stamped copy with the agreement rather than in a mail thread. Where duty is payable, it is paid at or before execution, through GRAS or e-SBTR, on the figure we compute for your instrument.
One last line, for the forum clause. A dispute arising in Pune is heard by the courts at Pune, with the Bombay High Court sitting above them at its principal seat. Maharashtra has specified ₹50 lakh as the value at which the commercial court track opens. Write the clause so it points at the courts your document will really end up in.
Who drafts your NDA, and what have they seen before?
We draft agreements for Pune clients every week, from Hinjawadi funding rooms to Kharadi delivery centres and Chakan supplier files, so the questions a Maharashtra counterparty raises are questions we have already answered. Over 15,000 businesses have used LegalX India for their filings and documentation. Our CA and CS team hold a 4.8 Google rating across the work.
Our Pune office is at Yashwant Nagar, Near Bharatiya Samajseva, Yerwada, Pune 411006, and you are welcome to sit with the drafter, though nothing about an NDA needs a visit. Send your six answers and expect a callback within 30 minutes. For the national picture first, read how NDA drafting works across India, then come back for the Maharashtra specific parts.