Reference

Trading glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms our news mentions. Tap any ticker pill to see related news.

Indices

SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India. Statutory regulator of stock exchanges, brokers, mutual funds.
RBI: Reserve Bank of India. Sets monetary policy, repo rate, banking regulation.
MCA: Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Maintains the company-master records.

RNS: Regulatory News Service style press release. Primary-source corporate news.
Record date: Cut-off date for shareholders to be eligible for a corporate action (dividend, bonus, demerger).
AGM: Annual General Meeting. Mandatory yearly shareholder meeting under Companies Act 2013.
EGM: Extraordinary General Meeting. Called outside the AGM cycle for urgent shareholder approvals.
Demerger: Spin-off of a business unit into a new listed entity. Existing shareholders typically get pro-rata shares.
Buyback: Company repurchase of its own shares. Usually signals management thinks the stock is undervalued.
Bonus issue: Free additional shares issued to existing shareholders pro-rata. Doesn't change ownership %.
Stock split: Reduces face value, multiplies share count proportionally. Increases liquidity, doesn't change valuation.
Rights issue: New shares offered to existing shareholders at a discount, pro-rata to current holding.
QIP: Qualified Institutional Placement. Quick fund-raise route restricted to institutional buyers (QIBs).

F&O: Futures and Options. Derivatives traded on NSE with high leverage and high risk.
OI: Open Interest. Total outstanding F&O contracts. Rising OI + rising price often signals conviction.
PCR: Put-Call Ratio. Aggregated puts vs calls. Used as a sentiment gauge; extremes mean-revert.
Margin call: Broker demand for additional capital when an open F&O position breaches margin requirements.

FII: Foreign Institutional Investor. Daily buy/sell numbers move the index more than retail flows.
DII: Domestic Institutional Investor (mutual funds, insurance, pension). Counter-balances FII flows.

Circuit breaker: Exchange-mandated price band on a stock or index that pauses trading when breached.
Pre-market session: On NSE, 09:00 to 09:15 IST. Discovery of opening price via call auction.
Result calendar: Schedule of company quarterly earnings announcements. Single biggest driver of single-stock moves.
Block deal: Single trade of 5 lakh shares or 10 cr value, executed in a special window. Reported separately.
Bulk deal: Trades aggregating to 0.5%+ of a company's listed shares on a day. Disclosed by exchange.

DRHP: Draft Red Herring Prospectus. Pre-IPO disclosure document filed with SEBI for review.
RHP: Red Herring Prospectus. Final pre-IPO document with all details except final price band.
FPO: Follow-on Public Offer. Already-listed company issues additional shares to public.
Listing gains: Difference between IPO allotment price and the listing-day closing price.

LTCG: Long-Term Capital Gains. Equity held over 12 months; taxed at 12.5% above 1.25 lakh annual exemption.
STCG: Short-Term Capital Gains. Equity held under 12 months; taxed at 20%.
STT: Securities Transaction Tax. Levied on every equity buy/sell on Indian exchanges.