INVEST IN EQUITY+

Equities are pieces of a company, also known as "stocks or shares". When you buy shares of a company, you're basically purchasing an ownership interest in that company. A company's stockholders or shareholders all have equity in the company, or own a fractional portion of the whole company. They buy the shares because they expect to profit when the company profits. Companies issue two basic types of shares: equity and preference shares.

Shares define the portion of investment an investor has made in a particular company at a given price. The total equity capital of a company is divided into equal units of small denominations, each called a share. The holders of such shares are members of the company and have voting rights.

An Index is a basket of securities and the average price movement of the basket of securities indicates the index movement, whether upwards or downwards The Leading Indices in the Indian markets are based on BSE (e.g. BSE SENSEX) and NSE Exchanges (e.g. NSE NIFTY). These indices are a reflection of the overall price movement in the market.

A depository is like a bank wherein the deposits are securities (viz. shares, debentures, bonds, government securities, units etc.) in electronic form. In India currently there are two depositories namely National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) & Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL) whose services are availed of by many members who are called Depository Participants.

Prior to the concept of electronic exchanges shares were issued to investors in physical form. Dematerialization is the process by which physical certificates of an investor are converted to an equivalent number of securities in electronic form and credited to the investors account with his Depository Participant (DP).

An Initial Public Offer (IPO) is the selling of securities to the public in the primary market. This is when an unlisted company makes either a fresh issue of securities or an offer for sale of its existing securities or both for the first time to the public. This paves way for listing and trading of the issuers securities. The sale of securities is generally through book building or through normal public issue.

It refers to a market where securities are traded after they have initially been offered to the public in the primary market and/or listed on the Stock Exchange. Majority of the trading is done in the secondary market.

Under the overall supervision of the regulatory authority, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the stock exchanges in India provide a trading platform, where buyers and sellers can meet to transact in securities. The trading platform provided by BSE & NSE is an electronic one and there is no need for buyers and sellers to meet at a physical location to trade. The trade is done through the computerized trading screens or internet based trading facilities available and provided by the trading members.

Periodic payments to shareholders made out of the company's profits are termed as dividends. The company decides the amount in a board meeting based on the company's performance and surplus.

Opening a demat account is as simple as opening a bank account. One can open a depository account with any DP by filling up the account opening form, which is available with the DP. Sign the DP-client agreement that defines the rights and duties of the DP and the person wishing to open the account. Receive your client account number (client ID). This client id along with your DP id gives you a unique identification in the depository system.

One needs to fill up a dematerialization request form, which is available with your DP. The holder has to submit the share certificates along with the form; (write "surrendered for demat" on the face of the certificate before submitting it for demat). The credit of such shares is received in general in about 21 days from the registrar.

Money is a need in today's environment and everybody has a varied income level. Whatever is earned is partly spent and partly saved for meeting future expenses. Instead of keeping the savings idle an individual uses the savings in order to get return on it in the future and mitigate inflation to some extent. This is called Investment.

Saving is a stage on the way to investing. You cannot be an investor without being a saver but you can be a saver without being an investor. Savings are effectively cash or cash instruments, such as deposit account, term bonds etc. Investing is what you do with the savings you have created if you are looking to generate a return on your money that is greater than what is already available to you through your savings instruments.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory authority in India established under Section 3 of SEBI Act, 1992. It provides SEBI with statutory powers for protecting the interests of investors in securities, promoting the development of the securities market and regulating the securities market. Its regulatory jurisdiction extends over organizations in the issuance of capital and transfer of securities, in addition to all intermediaries and persons associated with securities market. It has been obligated to perform the aforesaid functions by such measures as it thinks fit. To be specific, it has powers as below: To regulate the business in stock exchanges and any other securities markets to Register and regulate the working of stock brokers, sub brokers etc. Promoting and regulating self-regulatory organizations Prohibiting fraudulent and unfair trade practices Taking information by undertaking inspection, conducting inquiries and audits of the stock exchanges, intermediaries, self-regulatory organizations, mutual funds and other persons associated with the securities market.