law: Banking Regulation Act, 1949
  6. Form and business in which banking
  
  companies may engage
  (1) In addition to the business of banking, a
  
  banking company may engage in any one or more of the following forms of
  
  business, namely,-
  (a) the borrowing,
  
  raising, or taking up of money; the lending or advancing of money either upon
  
  or without security; and drawing, making, accepting, discounting, buying,
  
  selling, collecting and dealing in bills of exchange, hundies, promissory
  
  notes, coupons, drafts, bill of lading, railway receipts, warrants, debentures,
  
  certificates, scrips and other instruments, and securities whether transferable
  
  or negotiable or not; the granting and issuing of letters of credit, travelers'
  
  cheques and circular notes; the buying, selling and dealing in bullion and
  
  specie; the buying and selling of foreign exchange including foreign bank
  
  notes; the acquiring, holding, issuing on commission, underwriting and dealing
  
  in stock, funds, shares, debentures, debenture stock, bonds, obligations,
  
  securities and investments of all kinds; the purchasing and selling of bonds,
  
  scrips or other forms of securities on behalf of constituents or others; the
  
  negotiating of loan and advances; the receiving of all kinds of bonds, scrips
  
  or valuables on deposit or for safe custody or otherwise; the providing of safe
  
  deposit vaults; the collecting and transmitting of money and securities;
  (b) acting as agents
  
  for any government or local authority or any other person or persons; the
  
  carrying on of agency business of any description including the clearing and
  
  forwarding of goods, giving of receipts and discharges and otherwise acting as
  
  an attorney on behalf of customers, but excluding the business of a 30[Managing
  
  Agent or Secretary and Treasurer] of a company;
  (c) contracting for
  
  public and private loans and negotiating and issuing the same;
  (d) the effecting,
  
  insuring, guaranteeing, underwriting, participating in managing and carrying
  
  out of any issue, public or private, of State, municipal or other loans or of
  
  shares, stock, debentures or debenture stock of any company, corporation or
  
  association and the lending of money for the purpose of any such issue;
  (e) carrying on and
  
  transacting every kind of guarantee and indemnity business;
  (f) managing, selling
  
  and realizing any property which may come into the possession of the company in
  
  satisfaction or part satisfaction of any of its claims;
  (g) acquiring and holding
  
  and generally dealing with any property or any right, title or interest in any
  
  such property which may form the security or part of the security for any loans
  
  or advances or which may be connected with any such security;
  (h) undertaking and
  
  executing trusts;
  (i) undertaking the
  
  administration of estates as executor, trustee or otherwise;
  (j) establishing and
  
  supporting or aiding in the establishment and support of associations,
  
  institutions, funds, trusts, and conveniences calculated to benefit employees
  
  or ex-employees of the company or the dependents or connections of such
  
  persons; granting pension and allowances and making payments towards insurance;
  
  subscribing to or guaranteeing moneys for charitable or benevolent object or
  
  for any exhibition or for any public, general or useful object;
  (k) the acquisition,
  
  construction, maintenance and alteration of any building or works necessary or
  
  convenient for the purpose of the company;
  (l) selling,
  
  improving, managing, developing, exchanging, leasing, mortgaging, disposing of
  
  or turning into account or otherwise dealing with all or any part of the
  
  property and rights of the company;
  (m) doing all such
  
  other things as are incidental or conducive to the promotion or advancement of
  
  the business of the company;
  (o) any other form of
  
  business which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official
  
  Gazette, specify as a form of business in which it is lawful for a banking
  
  company to engage.
  (2) No banking company shall engage in any form
  
  of business other than those referred to in sub-section (1).