Record Date & Ex-Date
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.
The rule that matters: to be eligible, you must buy the stock before the ex-date — buy on or after it and the benefit goes to the seller. Because trades settle the next working day (T+1), shares bought one day before the record date land in your demat account exactly in time to be on the register.
On the ex-date the price adjusts mechanically for the action: down by roughly the dividend amount, halved for a 1:1 bonus, and so on. Exchanges mark such stocks with ex-benefit annotations, and the adjusted price is not a 'fall' in any economic sense.
Companies announce record dates in exchange filings, typically alongside the board-meeting outcome that approves the action — which is exactly the kind of filing a real-time alert saves you from missing when eligibility windows are short.
In practice
ONGC fixed Friday, 4 September 2026 as the record date for its FY26 final dividend of ₹1 per share, which the board had recommended on 26 May 2026 and shareholders still had to approve at the AGM. Read the filing (6 Aug 2026) →
Common questions
Can I sell shares on the record date and still get the dividend?
Yes. If you bought the shares before the ex-date, you keep the entitlement even if you sell on the ex-date, which is also the record date under T+1. Your sale settles on the next working day, after the company has fixed its list of holders, so you are still on the register. The person who buys from you that day does not receive the dividend.
If I buy shares on the record date, will I get the dividend?
No. Under T+1 settlement, shares bought on the record date reach your demat account on the next working day, after the company has already taken its list of eligible holders. A purchase qualifies only if it is made no later than the last trading day before the record date.
How much notice does a company give before a record date?
SEBI's listing rules require a listed company to announce a record date to the exchanges at least seven working days in advance, not counting the day of the announcement or the record date itself. The notice states the purpose, such as a dividend, bonus, split or rights issue, and usually arrives with or shortly after the board decision.
When is a dividend paid after the record date?
The Companies Act, 2013 requires a declared dividend to be paid within 30 days of declaration. A final dividend is declared by shareholders at the AGM, so payment follows that meeting; an interim dividend is declared by the board and paid within 30 days of its decision. The money goes to the bank account registered with your depository participant.
How stocks tend to react
Stocks sometimes see buying interest in the run-up to attractive record dates (dividend-capture and bonus-eligibility trades) and corresponding supply after, layered on top of the mechanical ex-date price adjustment. These flows are usually short-lived relative to moves driven by the underlying business.
MarketPing measures this instead of guessing: every analysed announcement carries the stock's actual price reaction across 14 horizons, and the Reaction Lab aggregates how each category of announcement has historically moved stocks.
See it happening now
Buybacks & dividends on Discover → — the NSE and BSE companies that filed one recently, each with its filing and the measured price reaction.
Related terms
Get alerted when it happens
When a company you follow announces a record date & ex-date — or anything else material — MarketPing sends the filing to your WhatsApp within minutes, AI-summarised with an importance score. Free for 5 companies.
Educational content, not investment advice. Regulations and tax rules change — verify current rules before acting.