Indian Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can be set up under various Indian laws. The different legal entities under which a civil society organisations can register themselves are:

Societies Registration Act, 1860 is a central act for registering not-for-profit organisations. Almost all the states in India have adopted (with modifications, if any) the central Act for creating state level authorities for registering various types of not-for-profit entities. According to the act any seven persons who subscribe to the Memorandum of Association (MOA) can register a society. The memorandum should include names of the society, its objectives, its names, addresses and occupations of the members subscribing to it as well as the first governing body to be constituted on registration. NGOs like Bal Vikas Dhara-New Delhi, Bruu Foundation New-Delhi and Nayi Umeed-New Delhi are registered under this act.