Indian Trusts Act, 1882 is a law in India relating to private trusts and trustees. The Act defines what would lawfully be called as a trust and who can legally be its trustees and provides a definition for them. The Indian Trusts Amendment Bill of 2015 amended the Act and removed some restrictions on investment of the monetary assets by the trust in certain investments. But at the same time, it enabled the government to scrutinise the trusts' investments at will.

The Act defines how the author of the trust could create a trust and assign trustees and assign his monetary assets to be controlled by the trust. This trust should have a clear definition of the following:

- Intention by the author to create the trust.

- Purpose of the trust.

- The beneficiary of the monetary assets controlled by the trust.

- The monetary assets assigned to the trust for the purpose defined above.

- Grants control of the monetary assets to the trustee which can include the author of the trust.

There is a major notion among many that it is only the elite sector of the society who can create trusts. However, that is not true! A trust can be created by not just the high - networth individuals but even by ordinary men and women. The provisions of the Indian Trust Act, 1882 (referred to as “The Act” in this article) governs only private trusts. Public Trusts are usually governed by state-specific legislation. Eg: The Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950. The Indian Trust Act extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further, this act is not applicable to the Waqf, religious or charitable endowments and to a few others.