Home › The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 › Chapter I – Preliminary
Section 2: Definitions
In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,—
(1) Allotment list.—“allotment list” means a list containing details of allotment of the securities intimated by the issuer to the depository under sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Depositories Act, 1996 (22 of 1996);
(1A) “banker” includes a bank and any person acting as a banker;
(2) Bill of exchange.—“bill of exchange” means a bill of exchange as defined by the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, (26 of 1881), and includes also a hundi, and any other document entitling or purporting to entitle any person, whether named therein or not, to payment by any other person of, or to draw upon any other person for, any sum of money;
(3) Bill of exchange payable on demand.—“bill of exchange payable on demand” includes—
(a) an order for the payment of any sum of money by a bill of exchange or promissory note, or for the delivery of any bill of exchange or promissory note in satisfaction of any sum of money, or for the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen;
(b) an order for the payment of any sum of money weekly, monthly or at any other stated period; and
(c) a letter of credit, that is to say, any instrument by which one person authorises another to give credit to the person in whose favour it is drawn;
(4) Bill of lading.— “bill of lading” includes a “through bill of lading”, but does not include a mate’s receipt:
(5) Bond.— “bond” includes—
(a) any instrument whereby a person obliges himself to pay money to another, on condition that the obligation shall be void if a specified act is performed, or is not performed, as the case may be;
(b) any instrument attested by a witness and not payable to order or bearer, whereby a person obliges himself to pay money to another; and
(c) any instrument so attested, whereby a person obliges himself to deliver grain or other agricultural produce to another;
but does not include a debenture;
(6) Chargeable.—“chargeable” means, as applied to an instrument executed or first executed after the commencement of this Act, chargeable under this Act, and, as applied to any other instrument, chargeable under the law in force in India when such instrument was executed or, where several persons executed the instrument at different times, first executed;
(7) Cheque.—“cheque” means a bill of exchange drawn on a specified banker and not expressed to be payable otherwise than on demand;
(7A) “clearance list” means a list of transactions of sale and purchase relating to contracts traded on the stock exchanges submitted to a clearing corporation in accordance with the law for the time being in force in this behalf;
(7B) “clearing corporation” means an entity established to undertake the activity of clearing and settlement of transactions in securities or other instruments and includes a clearing house of a recognised stock exchange;
(8) [Omitted]
(9) Collector.—“Collector” —
(a) means, within the limits of the towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, the Collector of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, respectively, and, without those limits, the Collector of a district; and
(b) includes a Deputy Commissioner and any officer whom the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf;
(10) Conveyance.—“conveyance” includes a conveyance on sale and every instrument by which property, whether moveable or immovable, is transferred inter vivos and which is not otherwise specifically provided for by schedule I;
(10A) debenture.––“debenture” includes––
(i) debenture stock, bonds or any other instrument of a company evidencing a debt, whether constituting a charge on the assets of the company or not;
(ii) bonds in the nature of debenture issued by any incorporated company or body corporate;
(iii) certificate of deposit, commercial usance bill, commercial paper and such other debt instrument of original or initial maturity upto one year as the Reserve Bank of India may specify from time to time;
(iv) securitised debt instruments; and
(v) any other debt instruments specified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India from time to time;
(10B) “depository” includes––
(a) a depository as defined in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Depositories Act, 1996 (22 of 1996); and
(b) any other entity declared by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to be a depository for the purposes of this Act;
(11) Duly stamped. —“duly stamped”, as applied to an instrument, means that the instrument bears an adhesive or impressed stamp of not less than the proper amount and that such stamp has been affixed or used in accordance with the law for the time being in force in India:
(12) Executed and execution. — “executed” and “execution” used with reference to instruments, mean “signed” and “signature” and includes attribution of electronic record within the meaning of section 11 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);
(12A) [Omitted]
(13) Impressed stamp. — “impressed stamp” includes—
(a) labels affixed and impressed by the proper officer; and
(b) stamps embossed or engraved on stamped paper;
(13A) India. — “India” means the territory of India excluding the State of Jammu and Kashmir;
(14) “instrument” includes—
(a) every document, by which any right or liability is, or purports to be, created, transferred, limited, extended, extinguished or recorded;
(b) a document, electronic or otherwise, created for a transaction in a stock exchange or depository by which any right or liability is, or purports to be, created, transferred, limited, extended, extinguished or recorded; and
(c) any other document mentioned in Schedule I, but does not include such instruments as may be specified by the Government, by notification in the Official Gazette.
(15) Instrument of partition.— “instrument of partition” means any instrument where by co-owners of any property divide or agree to divide such property in severalty, and includes also a final order for effecting a partition passed by any Revenue-authority or any Civil Court and an award by an arbitrator directing a partition;
(15A) Issue.— “issue” means any person making an issue of securities;
(16) Lease.— “lease” means a lease of immovable property, and includes also—
(a) a patta;
(b) a kabuliyat or other undertaking in writing, not being a counterpart of a lease, to cultivate, occupy, or pay or deliver rent for, immovable property;
(c) any instrument by which tolls of any description are let;
(d) any writing on an application for a lease intended to signify that the application is granted;
(16A) Marketable security.— “marketable security” means a security capable of being traded in any stock exchange in India;
(16B) Market value.—“market value”, in relation to an instrument through which—
(a) any security is traded in a stock exchange, means the price at which it is so traded;
(b) any security which is transferred through a depository but not traded in the stock exchange, means the price or the consideration mentioned in such instrument;
(c) any security is dealt otherwise than in the stock exchange or depository, means the price or consideration mentioned in such instrument;
(17) Mortgage-deed.— “mortgage-deed” includes every instrument whereby, for the purpose of securing money advanced, or to be advanced, by way of loan, or an existing or future debt, or the performance of an engagement, one person transfers, or creates, to, or in favour of, another, a right over or in respect of specified property;
(18) Paper.—“paper” includes vellum, parchment or any other material on which an instrument may be written;
(19) Policy of insurance.—“policy of insurance” includes—
(a) any instrument by which one person, in consideration of a premium, engages to indemnify another against loss, damage or liability arising from an unknown or contingent event;
(b) a life-policy, and any policy insuring any person against accident or sickness, and any other personal insurance;
(19A) Policy of group insurance.—“policy of group insurance” means any instrument covering not less than fifty or such smaller number as the Central Government may approve, either generally or with reference to any particular case, by which an insurer, in consideration of a premium paid by an employer or by an employer and his employees jointly, engages to cover, with or without medical examination and for the sole benefit of persons other than the employer, the lives of all the employees or of any class of them, determined by conditions pertaining to the employment, for amounts of insurance based upon a plan which precludes individual selection:
(20) Policy of sea-insurance or sea-policy.—“Policy of sea-insurance” or “sea-policy”—
(a) means any insurance made upon any ship or vessel (whether for marine or inland navigation), or upon the machinery, tackle or furniture of any ship or vessel, or upon any goods, merchandise or property of any description whatever on board of any ship or vessel, or upon the freight of, or any other interest which may be lawfully insured in, or relating to, any ship or vessel; and
Source: official text of The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 as published on India Code (PDF). All sections of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.