Glossary
Public charitable trust
The oldest Indian nonprofit form — a trust created by a trust deed for charitable purposes.
A public charitable trust is an entity created by a settlor executing a trust deed that dedicates property to a public charitable purpose. In India the form pre-dates the Companies Act — most of the country's oldest philanthropies (the Tatas, the Wadias, the Nadars) operate as trusts.
Trusts are registered with the office of the Sub-Registrar in the state where the trust deed is executed, and — where the state has a Public Trust Act (Maharashtra, Gujarat) — with the state Charity Commissioner. Unlike societies, a trust does not require a minimum number of members; a single settlor and two or more trustees is enough.
Trusts still hold 12A/80G and, if they will receive corporate CSR funds, CSR-1. The advantage over Section 8 companies is simplicity of formation; the disadvantage is that governance is defined by the trust deed itself and harder to amend later.