Under Section 128 of the Indian Contract Act 1872, the liability of a surety is -

Section 128 of the Indian Contract Act 1872 declares that the liability of the surety is co-extensive with that of the principal debtor, unless the contract provides otherwise. The creditor may therefore proceed against the surety directly for the whole amount due without first exhausting remedies against the principal debtor, since the right arises on the debtor's default. Under Section 126, a guarantee is a tripartite arrangement in which the surety promises to discharge the principal debtor's liability on his failure to perform. The surety's liability is therefore not merely secondary, and it is neither conditioned on the debtor's insolvency nor confined to what can actually be recovered from the debtor's assets.