The language of Indian corporate announcements

A share buyback is when a company repurchases its own shares from existing shareholders, reducing the number of shares outstanding. In India, buybacks are governed by SEBI's Buy-Back of Securities Regulations and most now happen through the tender-offer route.

A bonus issue is a free allotment of additional shares to existing shareholders in a fixed ratio (for example 1:1 — one new share for every share held), made by capitalising the company's accumulated reserves. It increases the share count without changing the value of the business.

A stock split divides each existing share into multiple shares by reducing the face value — for example, one ₹10 face-value share splitting into ten ₹1 shares. The share count rises and the price falls proportionately; the value of your holding is unchanged.

A dividend is a cash distribution of profits to shareholders, declared as an amount per share (often expressed as a percentage of face value in India). An interim dividend is declared by the board during the year and paid quickly; a final dividend is recommended by the board but paid only after shareholders approve it at the AGM.

A rights issue is an offer of new shares to existing shareholders in proportion to their holding (for example 1 new share for every 4 held), usually at a discount to the market price. It is a way for a company to raise fresh capital from its own shareholders first.

A demerger is the separation of a business division into an independent company, with existing shareholders receiving shares of the new entity in a fixed entitlement ratio (for example, 1 share of the demerged company for every 1 share held). It is the standard 'value unlocking' move for conglomerates.

A merger (amalgamation) combines two companies into one, with shareholders of the company being absorbed receiving shares of the surviving company in a fixed swap ratio (for example, 10 shares of A for every 7 of B). The swap ratio is the single number that decides who wins the deal.

Delisting is the permanent removal of a company's shares from stock-exchange trading. It is voluntary when promoters buy out public shareholders to take the company private, and compulsory when the exchange removes the stock as a penalty for non-compliance.

An open offer is a mandatory offer an acquirer must make to public shareholders when acquiring substantial ownership or control of a listed company — under SEBI's SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, crossing 25% shareholding triggers an offer for at least a further 26% of the company from the public.

The record date is the cut-off on which a company checks its shareholder register to decide who receives a corporate action (dividend, bonus, split, rights). The ex-date is the first trading day on which buying the share no longer earns that benefit. Under India's T+1 settlement, the ex-date and record date now fall on the same day.

A board meeting intimation is the advance notice a listed company files with the stock exchanges saying its board of directors will meet on a given date, along with the agenda — such as approving quarterly results, recommending a dividend, or considering a fundraise or buyback.

An Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the shareholder meeting every listed company must hold once a financial year to approve accounts, dividends and director appointments; an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is any other general meeting, called specially when a decision needs shareholder approval before the next AGM.

A related-party transaction (RPT) is any deal — sales, purchases, loans, guarantees, royalty payments — between a listed company and a 'related party' such as its promoters, promoter-group entities, subsidiaries, directors or their relatives.

A pledge of shares is when a shareholder — almost always a promoter — offers their shares as collateral to borrow money. The shares stay in the promoter's name, but the lender can seize and sell them if the loan isn't serviced.

A SAST disclosure is a filing required under SEBI's Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) Regulations, 2011, revealing that an investor has acquired — or changed — a meaningful stake in a listed company.

PIT disclosures are filings under SEBI's Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations, 2015, reporting trades that insiders — promoters, directors and designated employees — make in their own company's shares. These are the legal, disclosed kind of insider trades, distinct from unlawful trading on unpublished price-sensitive information.

A Regulation 30 material event is any development a listed company must disclose to the stock exchanges under Regulation 30 of SEBI's LODR regulations because it could affect the company's operations, finances or share price — from large order wins and plant shutdowns to fraud, raids, litigation and key resignations.

A credit rating action is a change — upgrade, downgrade, outlook revision or watch placement — that a rating agency (CRISIL, ICRA, CARE, India Ratings) makes to its assessment of a company's debt, which listed companies must disclose to the exchanges.

An auditor resignation is when a company's statutory auditor quits before completing its term. Because auditors rarely walk away from fee-paying clients without cause, the filing is treated as one of the strongest governance red flags on the exchanges.

A postal ballot is a mechanism under the Companies Act, 2013 for shareholders to vote on resolutions without convening a general meeting — today conducted almost entirely through remote e-voting.

Quarterly results are the financial statements every listed Indian company must publish for each three-month period — revenue, expenses, profit and earnings per share — approved by its board and filed with the stock exchanges.

PAT (Profit After Tax) is a company's net profit for a period — revenue minus all operating costs, interest, depreciation and tax. It is the bottom line of the profit-and-loss statement and the number most headlines quote.

EBITDA is Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation — a company's operating profit before financing costs, tax and non-cash charges. It approximates the cash profitability of the core business.

TTM (Trailing Twelve Months) is a company's performance over the most recent four reported quarters added together — a rolling one-year figure that updates every quarter instead of waiting for the annual report.

YoY (year-on-year) compares a quarter's numbers with the same quarter a year earlier; QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) compares them with the immediately preceding quarter. YoY removes seasonality; QoQ shows near-term momentum.

Standalone results report the parent company's own operations; consolidated results combine the parent with its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates. When both exist, consolidated is the truer measure of what a shareholder owns.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is the machine-readable format in which listed Indian companies file their financial results with the exchanges and MCA — every figure tagged to a standardised definition instead of sitting in a PDF.

EPS (Earnings Per Share) is a company's profit after tax divided by its number of shares — the slice of earnings attributable to each share you own. It is the denominator of the P/E ratio.

Guidance is management's own forecast of future performance — revenue growth, margin ranges, capex plans or order-book outlook — shared with investors, most commonly on earnings calls and in investor presentations.

An earnings call (concall) is the conference management hosts after results, where executives explain the quarter, share outlook and take analyst questions. In India, listed companies must file the call's recording and transcript with the stock exchanges.

FPIs (Foreign Portfolio Investors) are SEBI-registered foreign funds and institutions that invest in Indian stocks and bonds; FII (Foreign Institutional Investor) is the older name for the same investor class, and the two terms are used interchangeably.

DIIs (Domestic Institutional Investors) are India-based institutions — mutual funds, insurance companies, banks and pension funds — that invest in the stock market with domestic money.

A bulk deal is a transaction where a single client's total buying or selling in one stock crosses 0.5% of the company's listed equity shares within a trading day; exchanges disclose these deals — with the client's name, quantity and price — the same evening.

A block deal is a single, large, pre-negotiated trade between two parties executed through a separate block-deal window on the exchange, at a price within a narrow band around the prevailing market price.

A QIP (Qualified Institutions Placement) is a fund-raising route where a listed Indian company issues new shares (or convertibles) directly to qualified institutional buyers, without a full public offering.

An OFS (Offer for Sale) is an exchange-run mechanism through which promoters or other large shareholders of a listed company sell shares they already own to institutional and retail bidders — no new shares are created.

Circuit limits are exchange-set daily price bands on individual stocks — commonly 2%, 5%, 10% or 20% — beyond which orders outside the band are not accepted; hitting the band is called being 'locked in upper (or lower) circuit'.

In India, large caps are the top 100 companies by average market capitalisation, mid caps are ranks 101–250, and small caps are rank 251 onwards — a classification maintained by AMFI and refreshed every six months for mutual-fund purposes.

Promoter holding is the percentage of a company's shares owned by its promoters — the founders or controlling group responsible for running it — as disclosed in the quarterly shareholding pattern filed with the exchanges.

An IPO (Initial Public Offering) is the first time a company sells its shares to the public, after which the stock lists and trades on the NSE and/or BSE.