The Indian Partnership Act, 1932 (Act No. 9 of 1932) defines and amends the law relating to partnership in India. It governs the nature of partnership and the mode of determining its existence, the mutual rights and duties of partners, the relations of partners to third parties including implied authority and liability for the firm’s acts, the introduction, retirement, expulsion and insolvency of partners, dissolution of a firm and settlement of accounts, the registration of firms and the effect of non-registration on a firm’s ability to sue. It received assent on 8 April 1932, came into force on 1 October 1932 (section 69 following a year later on 1 October 1933), and extends to the whole of India. The Act has attracted extensive State Amendments — particularly in Maharashtra, Goa, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat — chiefly affecting the registration Chapter and the Schedule I fee structure.
CHAPTER I — PRELIMINARY
- Section 1 — Short title, extent and commencement
- Section 2 — Definitions
- Section 3 — Application of provisions of Act 9 of 1872
CHAPTER II — THE NATURE OF PARTNERSHIP
- Section 4 — Definition of “partnership”, “partner”, “firm” and “firm name”
- Section 5 — Partnership not created by status
- Section 6 — Mode of determining existence of partnership
- Section 7 — Partnership at will
- Section 8 — Particular partnership
CHAPTER III — RELATIONS OF PARTNERS TO ONE ANOTHER
- Section 9 — General duties of partners
- Section 10 — Duty to indemnify for loss caused by fraud
- Section 11 — Determination of rights and duties of partners by contract between the partners
- Section 12 — The conduct of the business
- Section 13 — Mutual rights and liabilities
- Section 14 — The property of the firm
- Section 15 — Application of the property of the firm
- Section 16 — Personal profits earned by partners
- Section 17 — Rights and duties of partners after a change in the firm, after the expiry of the term of the firm, and where additional undertakings are carried out
CHAPTER IV — RELATIONS OF PARTNERS TO THIRD PARTIES
- Section 18 — Partner to be agent of the firm
- Section 19 — Implied authority of partner as agent of the firm
- Section 20 — Extension and restriction of partner’s implied authority
- Section 21 — Partner’s authority in an emergency
- Section 22 — Mode of doing act to bind firm
- Section 23 — Effect of admissions by a partner
- Section 24 — Effect of notice to acting partner
- Section 25 — Liability of a partner for acts of the firm
- Section 26 — Liability of the firm for wrongful acts of a partner
- Section 27 — Liability of firm for misapplication by partners
- Section 28 — Holding out
- Section 29 — Rights of transferee of a partner’s interest
- Section 30 — Minors admitted to the benefits of partnership
CHAPTER V — INCOMING AND OUTGOING PARTNERS
- Section 31 — Introduction of a partner
- Section 32 — Retirement of a partner
- Section 33 — Expulsion of a partner
- Section 34 — Insolvency of a partner
- Section 35 — Liability of estate of deceased partner
- Section 36 — Rights of outgoing partner to carry on competing business
- Section 37 — Right of outgoing partner in certain cases to share subsequent profits
- Section 38 — Revocation of continuing guarantee by change in firm
CHAPTER VI — DISSOLUTION OF A FIRM
- Section 39 — Dissolution of a firm
- Section 40 — Dissolution by agreement
- Section 41 — Compulsory dissolution
- Section 42 — Dissolution on the happening of certain contingencies
- Section 43 — Dissolution by notice of partnership at will
- Section 44 — Dissolution by the Court
- Section 45 — Liability for acts of partners done after dissolution
- Section 46 — Right of partners to have business wound up after dissolution
- Section 47 — Continuing authority of partners for purposes of winding up
- Section 48 — Mode of settlement of accounts between partners
- Section 49 — Payment of firm debts and of separate debts
- Section 50 — Personal profits earned after dissolution
- Section 51 — Return of premium on premature dissolution
- Section 52 — Rights where partnership contract is rescinded for fraud or misrepresentation
- Section 53 — Right to restrain from use of firm name or firm property
- Section 54 — Agreements in restraint of trade
- Section 55 — Sale of goodwill after dissolution. Rights of buyer and seller of goodwill. Agreements in restraint of trade
CHAPTER VII — REGISTRATION OF FIRMS
- Section 56 — Power to exempt from application of this Chapter
- Section 57 — Appointment of Registrars
- Section 58 — Application for registration
- Section 59 — Registration
- Section 60 — Recording of alterations in firm name and principal place of business
- Section 61 — Noting of closing and opening of branches
- Section 62 — Noting of changes in names and addresses of partners
- Section 63 — Recording of changes in and dissolution of a firm. Recording of withdrawal of a minor
- Section 64 — Rectification of mistakes
- Section 65 — Amendment of Register by order of Court
- Section 66 — Inspection of Register and filed documents
- Section 67 — Grant of copies
- Section 68 — Rules of evidence
- Section 69 — Effect of non-registration
- Section 70 — Penalty for furnishing false particulars
- Section 71 — Power to make rules
CHAPTER VIII — SUPPLEMENTAL
SCHEDULES
Note: The Indian Partnership Act, 1932 received the assent of the Governor-General on 8 April 1932 and came into force on 1 October 1932, save for section 69 (effect of non-registration), which came into force a year later on 1 October 1933 to give unregistered firms time to register. Only two central amending Acts have touched the principal Act (the Repealing and Amending Act, 1934 and the Part B States (Laws) Act, 1951), but the Act carries an unusually dense layer of State Amendments — chiefly in Maharashtra, Goa, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat — concentrated in Chapter VII (Registration of Firms) and Schedule I (Maximum Fees), reflecting each State’s own fee structure and move toward online registration. This site’s build-out is now complete across all eight Chapters, covering all 74 sections (Section 73 having been repealed) and both Schedules.
