The procedure for Attestation / Legalization / Authentication varies depending upon the state to which the institution / college / University belongs, type of document and the country in which you intend to use the document.

State wise Authentication Procedure
Earlier people knew of the HRD in New Delhi for the initial step in the attestation procedure which no more exists. Sicne July 2007, the HRD ministry has delegated this work to the respective Home ministry functioning under the State Government. This holds true for all Indian states except Kerala.

Earlier people only knew about the HRD, ministry in new Delhi which is no more. Since July 2007, the DHRD ministry has delegated this work to the respective home Departments of each state. Since the majority of NRI's residing in the GCC countries is from Kerala, the Govt. of India has made an exception by assigining the task of placing the authentic seal to NORKA centers (Trivandrum , Ernakulam, Calicut)

After obtaining the attestation seal from the concerned Home Department/NORKA, the certificate is then sent to the MEA for placing their seal / stamp The document will then have to be stamped by the host country's embassy/consulate in India. The procedure is finally completed where upon arriving in the host country, the document is finally sent to the MFA for the final seal of attestation.

Types of Documents
Unlike educational documents, non educational documents eg: Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate, POA, TC. attestation procedure is slightly different. The document is first attested by Notary (Home Department) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Hence it is legalized by the host country's embassy or consulate.