- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. "Competent Authority " means the Competent Authority appointed under section 5;
2. "Designated Court " means the Designated Court constituted under section 6;
3. "deposit " includes and shall be deemed always to have included any receipt of money or acceptance of any valuable commodity by any Financial Establishment to be returned after a specified period or otherwise, either in cash or in kind or in the form of a specified service with or without any benefit in the form of interest, bonus, profit or in any other form, but does not include-
4. the Industrial Development Bank of India,
5. a State Financial Corporation,
6. any financial institution specified in or under Section 6A of the industrial Development Bank of India Act, 1964, or
7. any other institution that may be specified by the Government in this behalf;
8. amounts received in the ordinary course of business by way of, -
9. security deposit,
10. dealership deposit,
11. earnest money,
12. advance against order for goods or services;
13. "Financial Establishment " means any person accepting deposit under any scheme or arrangement or in any other manner but does not include a corporation or a co-operative society owned or controlled by any State Government or the Central Government or a banking company as defined under clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949;
14. "Government " means the Government of Maharashtra.