Sale of Goods Act, 1930 · Chapter I: Preliminary
Section 2: Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—
(1) "buyer" means a person who buys or agrees to buy goods;
(2) "delivery" means voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another;
(3) goods are said to be in a "deliverable state" when they are in such state that the buyer would under the contract be bound to take delivery of them;
(4) "document of title to goods" includes a bill of lading, dockwarrant, warehouse keeper's certificate, wharfingers' certificate, railway receipt, [multimodal transport document, ] warrant or order for the delivery of goods and any other document used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to authorise, either by endorsement or by delivery, the possessor of the document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented;
(5) "fault" means wrongful act or default;
(6) "future goods" means goods to be manufactured or produced or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale;
(7) "goods" means every kind of moveable property other than actionable claims and money; and includes stock and shares, growing crops, grass, and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale;
(8) a person is said to be "insolvent" who has ceased to pay his debts in the ordinary course of business, or cannot pay his debts as they become due, whether he has committed an act of insolvency or not;
(9) "mercantile agent" means a mercantile agent having in the customary course of business as such agent authority either to sell goods, or to consign goods for the purposes of sale, or to buy goods, or to raise money on the security of goods;
(10) "price" means the money consideration for a sale of goods;
(11) "property" means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property;
(12) "quality of goods" includes their state or condition;
(13) "seller" means a person who sells or agrees to sell goods;
(14) "specific goods" means goods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made; and
(15) expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872), have the meaning assigned to them in that Act.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 2
-
Lipi Boilers Ltd. v. The Commissioner of Central Excise, Aurangabad
Issue arose whether the value of the duty paid bought out items delivered directly at the buyer’s site is liable to be included in the value of the boiler cleared by the assessee from its factory in completely knocked…
-
Union of India & Others v. Future Gaming Solutions Pvt. Ltd. & Another Etc.
Matter pertains to the correctness of the judgments of the High Court setting aside various amendments made to the Finance Act, 1994; and whether sole distributor/purchaser of the lottery tickets is liable to pay…
-
(Reliance Communications v. Commissioner of Service
Whether the mobile service providers who pay excise duties on various items for setting up their business more particularly for erection of mobile towers and peripherals like pre-fabricated buildings etc. can take the…
-
K. Arumugam v. Union of India & Others Etc.
Appellant-assessees purchased Kerala State Lotteries from the District Lottery Offices and other States’ lotteries in bulk from registered promoters at a discounted rate. The appellant subsequently sold them to…
- Hyundai Motor India Limited v. Shailendra Bhatnagar
- Competition Commission of India v. State of Mizoram & Ors.
- M/S Vellanki Frame Works v. The Commercial Tax Officer, Visakhapatnam
- Dharmarth Trust J & K Jammu & Ors. v. Dinesh Chander Nanda
- Union of India & Ors. v. M/S Martin Lottery Agencies Ltd.
- U.P. Cooperative Cane Union Federation v. West U.P. Sugar Mill Association and Ors.
- M.S. Madhusoodhanan and Anr. v. Kerala Kaumudi Pvt. Ltd. and Ors.
- R.D.Saxena v. Balram Prasad Sharma
- Thampanoor Ravi v. Charupara Ravi and Ors.
- Vikas Sales Corporation and Anr. Etc. Etc. v. Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and Anr. Etc. Etc.
- Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund v. Kartick Das