State attestation of documents are required before MEA government of India attestation, It depends on the type of document whether it is educational document, general document, a relevant type state attestation is to be done before going to further attestation. In case of educational degreed, Diplomas and certificates, attestation is to be done by State HRD in which document is originated. In case of personal documents, like birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate etc. Home Department or General Administration Department of the concerned state should attest the general document before it goes to attestation by the MEA govt of India New Delhi.
Ministry of External Affairs govt. of India attestation or apostille is done only after legalization of documents by the concerned state authorities.
Embassy attestation is done after the MEA attestation/apostille
An Apostille is a type of attestation in which educational and general documents are legalised in a specific format that is acceptable in all signatory countries of Hague Convention. Basically, Apostille is an international attestation that is acceptable in about 92 nations, and most of the western countries recognises Apostille done as per Hague convention.
Apostille seal is a four corner computer generated sticker stamp, pasted on back of the each original document by the MEA, Government of India. This is a one of a kind computer generated stamp having a different identification number for each document, through which any Hague convention signatory nation can check its authenticity online. Under usual conditions, once the document is apostilled, it does not require to be attested further from the embassy of countries signed Hauge Convention. In other words a document is apostilled, it does not require any further attestation from Embassy or MEA.