Promissory note payable on demand:
how long do you have?
Last reviewed: 2026-08-19 · quoted from the India Code bare-Act PDF
The date of the bill or note.
The Schedule row, as the Act prints it
Article 35Description: On a bill of exchange or promissory note payable on demand and not accompanied by any writing restraining or postponing the right to sue.
Period: Three years.
Time from which period begins to run: The date of the bill or note.
Open the bare Act on India Code →
In plain English
A demand promissory note is actionable immediately, so limitation runs from the date written on the note itself — not from when you demand payment. This is the single most common reason old promissory-note suits fail.
Where this comes up
- Hand-loan backed by an on-demand promissory note sued on after 3 years
- Moneylender's demand note enforced years after execution
What can reset or extend this period
General rules for entries in the Suits division. The full statutory quotes (ss.5, 12, 18-19, 6-8) are on the finder page.
No condonation — ever
Section 5 applies only to appeals and applications, never to suits. A time-barred suit must be dismissed under s.3 'although limitation has not been set up as a defence'. There is no discretionary mercy for suits.
Acknowledgment and part-payment reset the clock
A written acknowledgment of liability signed by the party (s.18), or a part-payment acknowledged in the payer's handwriting or signed writing (s.19), gives a fresh period — but only if made BEFORE the current period expires. An acknowledgment of an already-barred debt creates no fresh period under this Act.
Computation exclusions
s.12(1) excludes the first day; s.4 lets you file on the reopening day if the period expires while the court is closed; s.14 excludes time spent prosecuting in good faith in a court without jurisdiction; s.15 excludes stay/injunction periods and statutory-notice time; s.17 postpones the start until discovery in cases of fraud, concealment or mistake. But s.9: once time begins to run, no subsequent disability stops it.
Legal disability
If the person entitled to sue is a minor or of unsound mind when the period would start, ss.6-7 let them sue within the same period after the disability ceases — capped by s.8 at three years from cessation, and denied entirely to pre-emption suits (Article 97).
Frequently asked
I never demanded payment, so surely time hasn't started?
It has. The third column for Article 35 is 'The date of the bill or note'. A demand note is due the day it is made unless a writing restrains or postpones the right to sue.
Can part-payments keep the note alive?
Yes — a payment made before expiry and acknowledged in the payer's handwriting or signed writing restarts the three years under s.19; endorsements of payment on the note itself are the classic form.
This is a reference to the statutory text, not advice on a live matter. Limitation is brutally fact-sensitive — when the cause of action accrued, whether an acknowledgment or part-payment reset the clock, and which exclusions under ss.4-15 apply all turn on your specific facts. This page is a reference to the statutory text, not advice on a live matter, and it does not create an advocate-client relationship. A single day's error can be fatal to a claim: s.5 condonation never applies to suits, and several special-statute deadlines (Arbitration s.34(3), IBC s.61(2)) are hard ceilings no court can extend. Verify every period against the bare Act as currently amended and against current case law, and take advice on your own facts before acting. Provisions here were reviewed on 19 August 2026.