Calculator · SARFAESI Act 2002
The 60-day Section 13(2) demand notice, the 15-day reply under Section 13(3A), the 45-day window to move the DRT under Section 17, and the 30-day appeal to the DRAT under Section 18. Enter the date you have and the deadline it starts is computed below. Every period on this page is reproduced from the enacted text of the Act.
Dates are computed by excluding the day the period runs from, following Section 12(1) of the Limitation Act, 1963. Where a deadline falls on a day the Tribunal is closed, Section 4 of that Act allows filing on the next working day. This tool does not account for court holidays, condonation, or any order extending time in a particular matter.
Every period in the Act
Two of these periods bind the borrower, one binds the secured creditor, one binds the Magistrate and one binds the Tribunal. Confusing whose clock is running is the most common error in a SARFAESI file. The quoted words are from the enacted Act.
Runs from the date of the demand notice.
“require the borrower by notice in writing to discharge in full his liabilities to the secured creditor within sixty days from the date of notice”
On expiry, the secured creditor becomes entitled to exercise the measures in Section 13(4) — possession, lease, assignment or sale of the secured asset.
Runs from receipt of the borrower’s representation or objection.
“he shall communicate within fifteen days of receipt of such representation or objection the reasons for non-acceptance of the representation or objection to the borrower”
A reasoned reply is mandatory. Failure to deal with the representation is among the most frequently argued grounds in a Section 17 challenge. The reply itself confers no right to approach the DRT.
Runs from the date of the secured creditor’s application.
“shall after satisfying the contents of the affidavit pass suitable orders for the purpose of taking possession of the secured assets within a period of thirty days from the date of application”
This binds the Magistrate, not the creditor. The Act prescribes no limitation period for the secured creditor to make the Section 14 application itself.
Extension: If no order is passed within thirty days for reasons beyond the Magistrate’s control, the order may be passed within a further period, but not exceeding sixty days in aggregate.
Runs from the date on which the measure was taken under Section 13(4).
“may make an application along with such fee, as may be prescribed, to the Debts Recovery Tribunal having jurisdiction in the matter within forty-five days from the date on which such measure had been taken”
The primary borrower remedy against enforcement. Runs from the measure, not from the demand notice — a distinction that decides many applications on limitation alone.
Runs from the date of the application.
“shall be dealt with by the Debts Recovery Tribunal as expeditiously as possible and disposed of within sixty days from the date of such application”
Directory in practice, but it is the statutory basis for pressing an over-aged application for early hearing.
Extension: The DRT may extend the period for reasons recorded in writing, so however that total pendency shall not exceed four months from the date of the application.
Runs from the date of receipt of the order of the Debts Recovery Tribunal.
“may prefer an appeal along with such fee, as may be prescribed, to the Appellate Tribunal within thirty days from the date of receipt of the order of Debts Recovery Tribunal”
Runs from receipt, not from the date the order was pronounced. The appeal also carries the Section 18 pre-deposit: 50% of the debt due, which the DRAT may reduce to not less than 25% for reasons recorded in writing.
SARFAESI Time Limits — Statutory Periods and Deadline Calculator. Unified Chambers and Associates. https://www.unifiedchambers.com/calculators/sarfaesi-timeline
Every period above was read from the body text of the enacted Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 as published by India Code, and the operative words are quoted so a reader can check them against the Act. Marginal headings were not relied on. Dates are computed excluding the day the period runs from, per Section 12(1) of the Limitation Act, 1963. The Act is amended from time to time and a period may be extended or condoned in a particular matter — confirm before acting on a deadline.
FAQ
Sixty days. Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 requires the secured creditor to call on the borrower "to discharge in full his liabilities to the secured creditor within sixty days from the date of notice". Only once that period expires without discharge does the creditor become entitled to take the enforcement measures listed in Section 13(4) — taking possession, or transferring the secured asset by lease, assignment or sale. The period runs from the date of the notice.
The Act prescribes no limitation period for the secured creditor to apply to the District Magistrate or Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 14. The thirty-day period that appears in Section 14 binds the Magistrate, not the creditor: the second proviso requires the Magistrate, after satisfying himself of the contents of the authorised officer’s affidavit, to "pass suitable orders for the purpose of taking possession of the secured assets within a period of thirty days from the date of application". A further proviso allows the order to be passed beyond thirty days for reasons beyond the Magistrate’s control, recorded in writing, but not exceeding sixty days in aggregate.
Forty-five days. Section 17(1) allows any person aggrieved by a measure taken under Section 13(4) to apply to the Debts Recovery Tribunal "within forty-five days from the date on which such measure had been taken". The period runs from the date of the measure — not from the date of the Section 13(2) demand notice, and not from the date the borrower came to know of the measure. That distinction disposes of a significant number of applications on limitation alone.
Thirty days from the date of receipt of the DRT’s order, under Section 18(1). The period runs from receipt, not from the date the order was pronounced. The appeal also carries the Section 18 pre-deposit: the second proviso bars the DRAT from entertaining a borrower’s appeal unless 50% of the debt due has been deposited, being the amount claimed by the secured creditor or determined by the DRT, whichever is less. The third proviso permits the DRAT to reduce that to not less than 25% for reasons recorded in writing.
Section 17(5) requires the application to be "dealt with by the Debts Recovery Tribunal as expeditiously as possible and disposed of within sixty days from the date of such application". The proviso permits extension for reasons recorded in writing, but caps total pendency at four months from the date of the application. In practice these periods are treated as directory rather than mandatory, but they remain the statutory footing for pressing an over-aged application for an early date.
Yes, and within fifteen days. Under Section 13(3A), if the borrower makes a representation or raises an objection on receipt of the Section 13(2) notice, the secured creditor must consider it, and if it is not accepted, "communicate within fifteen days of receipt of such representation or objection the reasons for non-acceptance" to the borrower. A failure to deal with the representation at all, or a reply that does not engage with it, is among the most frequently argued grounds in a Section 17 challenge. The provision expressly states that the communication of reasons confers no right to approach the DRT at that stage.
A missed SARFAESI deadline is rarely the end of the matter, but it narrows the remedies sharply. If a period has run or is about to, our team can advise on what remains open.