Recovery of money lent:
how long do you have?
Last reviewed: 2026-08-19 · quoted from the India Code bare-Act PDF
When the loan is made.
The Schedule row, as the Act prints it
Article 19Description: For money payable for money lent.
Period: Three years.
Time from which period begins to run: When the loan is made.
Open the bare Act on India Code →
In plain English
A simple loan with no agreed repayment date must be sued on within three years of the date the loan was made. This surprises many lenders — the clock does not wait for a demand or a refusal. Written acknowledgments (s.18) and acknowledged part-payments (s.19) before expiry restart the period.
Where this comes up
- Friendly/hand loan given without documentation or repayment date
- Business advance to an associate never repaid
- Loan recorded only in a ledger entry or bank transfer
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
The borrower agreed to repay 'whenever I ask'. Does time run from my demand?
No. Under Article 21, even money lent 'payable on demand' has limitation running from when the loan is made. Only a deposit under Article 22 runs from the date of demand.
The borrower paid a small instalment last year. Am I still in time?
If the part-payment was made before the three years expired and is acknowledged in the payer's handwriting or a writing signed by him, s.19 gives you a fresh three-year period from that payment. WhatsApp confirmations and bank-transfer narrations are argued under s.18/19, but the statute requires a signed writing.
Can the court excuse a late loan-recovery suit?
No — s.5 condonation does not apply to suits. Once three years pass without an acknowledgment or part-payment reset, the remedy by suit is barred.
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.