Promissory Note (Pronote)

स्टाम्प ड्यूटी

Chargeable under Article 49, Schedule I to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Stamp duty on a promissory note is one of the instruments listed in Entry 91 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, so — unlike an agreement, a lease or a conveyance — the rate is fixed centrally and is the same figure in Punjab and in Chandigarh; it does not need a separate state-wise answer. Confirm the current Article 49 rate for the amount of this Note, which depends on the sum payable and on whether it is payable on demand or after a period, through the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) e-stamping portal or a licensed stamp vendor, before the Note is signed. CRITICAL AND SPECIFIC TO THIS INSTRUMENT: this Note must be stamped BEFORE it is signed, not afterwards. Ordinarily, an insufficiently stamped instrument can be admitted in evidence once the deficiency and a penalty are paid — but the proviso to s.35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 expressly excludes a bill of exchange or promissory note from that cure. A promissory note that is not duly stamped at the time it is made is generally incapable of being validated later by paying the duty and penalty, and a court can simply refuse to look at it. Buy the requisite stamp paper or adhesive stamp first, and only then sign. Under s.12 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, the Maker must cancel an adhesive stamp by writing on or across it, or signing across it, at or before signing — so that the stamp cannot be used again on another instrument — before or at the time of execution.

रजिस्ट्री

Not compulsorily registrable, and not customarily registered at all. s.17 of the Registration Act, 1908 does not reach a personal promise to pay money that creates no interest in immovable property, and registering a negotiable instrument is not the practice in either Punjab or Chandigarh — a promissory note's enforceability rests on it being properly made and duly stamped, not on registration.

नोटरी

Not legally required. Notarising the Note at or shortly after signing can help fix the date it was made beyond dispute, which matters because limitation for a suit on the Note runs from the date it falls due — the date of the Note itself, for one payable on demand.

गवाह

Not legally required. s.4 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 asks only for the Maker's signature to an unconditional promise to pay a certain sum to a certain person — it does not call for attestation, and many promissory notes carry no witness at all. Two witnesses may still be taken, as an evidentiary comfort about the date and circumstances of signing, and this template leaves that optional rather than mandatory.