Future goods
Goods to be manufactured, produced or acquired by the seller after the contract of sale is made (Section 2(6) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930). A purported present sale of them operates only as an agreement to sell.
Explained
Section 2(6) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 defines future goods as goods to be manufactured or produced or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale. Section 6(1) says the goods forming the subject of a contract of sale may be either existing goods, owned or possessed by the seller, or future goods.
The key rule is Section 6(3): where by a contract of sale the seller purports to effect a present sale of future goods, the contract operates as an agreement to sell the goods. The reason is that ownership cannot pass in goods that do not yet exist or that the seller does not yet have. Section 4(3) explains the consequence: in an agreement to sell, property passes at a future time or on fulfilment of a condition.
Property in future goods passes under Section 23(1). Where there is a contract for the sale of unascertained or future goods by description, and goods of that description in a deliverable state are unconditionally appropriated to the contract by one party with the assent of the other, property passes to the buyer on that appropriation. The assent may be express or implied and may come before or after the appropriation.
Related categories must be kept apart. Section 6(2) recognises contingent goods, whose acquisition by the seller depends on a contingency that may or may not happen; they are a species of future goods. Specific goods under Section 2(14) are goods identified and agreed upon when the contract is made, and are usually existing goods. Section 7, which makes a contract void when specific goods have perished before it was made, therefore has no application to future goods. Examiners mostly test Section 6(3), and occasionally the role of appropriation under Section 23.
What the law says
(6) “future goods” means goods to be manufactured or produced or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale;
Clause (6) defines future goods
(1) The goods which form the subject of a contract of sale may be either existing goods, owned or possessed by the seller, or future goods.
(2) There may be a contract for the sale of goods the acquisition of which by the seller depends upon a contingency which may or may not happen.
(3) Where by a contract of sale the seller purports to effect a present sale of future goods, the contract operates as an agreement to sell the goods.
Existing, contingent and future goods; present sale of future goods
(1) Where there is a contract for the sale of unascertained or future goods by description and goods of that description and in a deliverable state are unconditionally appropriated to the contract, either by the seller with the assent of the buyer or by the buyer with the assent of the seller, the property in the goods thereupon passes to the buyer. Such assent may be express or implied, and may by given either before or after the appropriation is made
Delivery to carrier.—(2) Where, in pursuance of the contract, the seller delivers the goods to the buyer or to a carrier or other bailee (whether named by the buyer or not) for the purpose of transmission to the buyer, and does not reserve the right of disposal, he is deemed to have unconditionally appropriated the goods to the contract.
Property in future goods passes on appropriation
(1) A contract of sale of goods is a contract whereby the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a price. There may be a contract of sale between one part-owner and another.
(2) A contract of sale may be absolute or conditional.
(3) Where under a contract of sale the property in the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer, the contract is called a sale, but where the transfer of the property in the goods is to take place at a future time or subject to some condition thereafter to be fulfilled, the contract is called an agreement to sell.
Distinction between sale and agreement to sell
Example
For example, a mill agrees in January to sell a buyer 500 metres of cloth that it will weave in March, saying the cloth is sold now. Under Section 6(3) this is only an agreement to sell, and property passes when cloth of that description is appropriated to the contract with assent.
For the exam
- Section 2(6): goods to be manufactured, produced or acquired by the seller after the contract.
- Section 6(3): a purported present sale of future goods is only an agreement to sell.
- Property passes on unconditional appropriation with assent (Section 23(1)).
- Contingent goods (Section 6(2)) are a kind of future goods.
- Future goods are not specific goods; Section 7 on perished specific goods does not apply.
4 questions in the Law Maker question bank use this term. Practise Partnership and Sale of Goods Acts questions
Related terms
- GoodsUnder Section 2(7) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, every kind of movable property other than actionable claims and money, including stocks and shares, growing crops and things to be severed from land.
- Specific goodsGoods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made (Section 2(14) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930).
- SellerA person who sells or agrees to sell goods. Section 2(13) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930. For the unpaid seller's rights, 'seller' also includes a person in the position of a seller (Section 45(2)).
- BuyerA person who buys or agrees to buy goods. Section 2(1) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930; the buyer of immovable property has rights and duties under Section 55 of the TPA.
- DeliveryUnder Section 2(2) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, the voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another. It may be actual, symbolic or constructive.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.