Promissory Note

PROMISSORY NOTE Place: [place_of_execution] Date: [execution_date] Amount: Rs. [principal_amount] I, [maker_name], [maker_relation] of [maker_father_name], residing at [maker_address] (the "Maker"), DO HEREBY UNCONDITIONALLY PROMISE TO PAY [payee_name], residing at [payee_address], or order, the sum of Rs. [principal_amount] (Rupees [amount_in_words] only), together with interest thereon at the rate of [interest_rate]% per annum, [payment_terms], for value received. Due date, where payable on a fixed date: [due_date] TERMS 1. This Promissory Note is executed for valuable consideration actually received by the Maker from the Payee. 2. The Maker undertakes to pay the said sum together with interest, without any deduction, set-off or counterclaim. 3. Interest shall accrue from the date of this Note until the date of actual payment in full. 4. Payment shall be made by a traceable banking channel, and the Payee shall issue a receipt for each payment received. 5. The Maker may prepay the whole or any part of the amount at any time, together with interest accrued to the date of prepayment. 6. On full payment, the Payee shall return this Promissory Note to the Maker marked "discharged and cancelled". 7. The Maker declares that the Maker is of sound mind, has attained majority, is competent to contract, and executes this Note voluntarily and without any coercion or undue influence. MAKER [maker_name] Signature: ______________________ (Revenue stamp to be affixed and signed across, where required) WITNESSES 1. Name: ______________________ Signature: ______________ Address: ______________ 2. Name: ______________________ Signature: ______________ Address: ______________ WHAT MAKES THIS A VALID PROMISSORY NOTE Section 4 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 requires an instrument in writing, containing an UNCONDITIONAL UNDERTAKING signed by the maker, to pay a CERTAIN SUM OF MONEY only, to or to the order of a certain person, or to the bearer. Any condition attached to the promise destroys its character as a promissory note. "I promise to pay Rs. X when I sell my land" is not a promissory note, because the promise is conditional. Keep the undertaking absolute. STAMP DUTY — READ THIS BEFORE SIGNING A promissory note is chargeable with stamp duty under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. The duty must be paid by affixing an adhesive stamp BEFORE OR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTION, and the stamp must be cancelled by the maker signing or writing across it. A stamp affixed later, or left uncancelled, does not cure the defect. Under Section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, an instrument that is not duly stamped is INADMISSIBLE IN EVIDENCE and cannot be acted upon. A widely repeated claim holds that a promissory note, unlike other instruments, can NEVER be validated by paying the duty and a penalty. That WAS the position: bills of exchange and promissory notes were expressly excluded from the curative proviso to Section 35. That exclusion was REMOVED by the Indian Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2006, and an insufficiently stamped promissory note may now be admitted on payment of the deficient duty together with the prescribed penalty. That said, three practical traps remain, and they are the reason to stamp it correctly at the outset: 1. The PENALTY can run to ten times the deficient duty. Getting it right costs a few rupees; getting it wrong can cost a multiple of the duty. 2. Only the ORIGINAL can be validated. A copy of an unstamped instrument cannot be stamped, and secondary evidence of an unstamped instrument is inadmissible. If the original is lost, the note is unusable. 3. STATE VARIATION. Stamp duty on promissory notes is levied at rates prescribed by the State concerned, and several States have their own amendments to the Stamp Act. Confirm the applicable rate and procedure locally before execution. LIMITATION A suit on a promissory note payable ON DEMAND must ordinarily be filed within THREE YEARS of the date of the note. Where it is payable on a fixed date, the three years run from that date. A fresh written acknowledgment of the debt signed by the maker before the period expires starts a new three-year period (Section 18, Limitation Act, 1963), as does a part-payment of the principal (Section 19).