Glossary
IPO and stock market terms, explained
61 terms, each with a plain-English definition and a full explainer behind it.
A
- Anchor Investors in IPO
- Shortly before an Indian IPO opens for public bidding, a separate book is filled and closed by large institutions in one session, and the allotment is disclosed to the exchanges…
- ASBA
- When you apply for an Indian IPO, the application money does not leave your bank account. It is marked and held there until the allotment is known. This article explains what…
B
- Basis of Allotment
- A few days after an IPO closes, the registrar files a document called the Basis of Allotment. It is short, unglamorous and the only official explanation of why you received one…
- BE Series
- BE is a trade-for-trade series used by Indian exchanges for specified securities. Each purchase or sale normally results in compulsory delivery, so intraday netting is not…
- Bid Price vs Ask Price
- The bid is the highest displayed price a buyer is currently willing to pay, while the ask is the lowest displayed price a seller is currently willing to accept. The difference is…
- Book Value
- Book value is the accounting value of owners’ equity reported on the balance sheet. Book value per share divides relevant equity by the applicable number of equity shares, with…
- Bull Market vs Bear Market
- A bull market describes a sustained period of broadly rising prices and improving confidence, while a bear market describes a sustained and meaningful decline accompanied by…
- BZ Series
- BZ is an exchange series associated with particular compliance or surveillance circumstances, commonly involving companies subject to specified listing-compliance conditions. Its…
C
- Circuit Limits
- Circuit limits are exchange-imposed price bands or market-wide controls designed to moderate extreme movement and provide time for information and orders to be assessed. Specific…
D
- Demat Account vs Trading Account
- A trading account is used to place buy and sell orders, while a demat account electronically holds eligible securities after settlement. They perform connected but different…
- Dividend
- A dividend is a distribution a company declares from eligible profits or reserves to shareholders according to law and the rights of the security. Equity dividends are…
E
- EQ Series
- EQ is the commonly used exchange series for securities that generally support normal delivery-based trading and, where eligible, intraday trading under prevailing exchange rules…
- Ex Date vs Record Date
- The record date is the date a company uses to identify eligible holders for a corporate action, while the ex-date is the trading date from which a buyer generally does not receive…
F
- Face Value of Share
- Face value is the nominal value assigned to a share in the company’s capital structure. It is an accounting and legal reference used in matters such as share capital, splits and…
- FII vs DII
- Understand the difference between foreign and domestic institutional investors and how their flows can influence Indian markets.
- Fresh Issue vs Offer for Sale
- An Indian IPO is usually described in two parts: a fresh issue and an offer for sale. The two lines sit next to each other on the cover page but describe different transactions…
G
- Grey Market Premium Risks
- Grey market premium is quoted everywhere during an IPO, yet it comes from an informal network with no regulator, no published trade record and very little money changing hands…
H
- How to Analyze IPO Financials
- The financial statements in an IPO offer document are restated onto one accounting basis so the years can be compared. This article walks through what to test in them: revenue…
- How to Apply for an IPO
- Applying for an IPO takes a few minutes, but the sequence matters: a demat account linked to your PAN, a bid placed through a broker or a bank, and a payment mandate approved…
- How to Buy First Share
- Buying a first share means placing an order through a registered broker for a listed equity security and accepting ownership, price, liquidity and business risks. The operational…
- How to Check IPO Allotment Status
- An IPO allotment result is produced by the issue registrar and then mirrored by exchanges, brokers, depositories and banks. This guide explains the identifiers you need, the three…
I
- IPO Allotment Process
- Between the moment bidding closes and the day a stock lists, a registrar has to match millions of bids against bank confirmations, throw out the ones that fail, allocate what is…
- IPO Face Value vs Issue Price
- Every IPO announcement carries two rupee figures that beginners routinely confuse. Face value is an accounting denomination fixed in the company's own records; issue price is what…
- IPO Issue Size
- The headline crore figure attached to an IPO is a multiplication, not a valuation. This article unpacks what issue size counts, how the fresh-issue and offer-for-sale portions…
- IPO Listing Date
- The listing date is the first day a newly issued share can be bought or sold on the exchange. This guide follows the sequence from issue close to the opening bell, explains why…
- IPO Listing Gains
- Listing gain is a single subtraction: the first traded price minus the issue price, read as a percentage. This article works through the arithmetic in both directions, separates…
- IPO Lock-in Period
- When a company lists, most of its share capital cannot legally be sold yet. Lock-in is the rule that freezes those shares for a defined period. This guide covers who it binds, how…
- IPO Lot Size
- An IPO application form will not accept a request for 37 shares. Bids move in fixed bundles called lots, and that single design choice shapes the minimum cheque you write, the…
- IPO Oversubscription
- When an issue is reported as subscribed a certain number of times, that figure is a simple ratio of shares bid for to shares offered. This article works through the arithmetic…
- IPO Price Band
- A book-built IPO opens with two numbers rather than one: a floor price and a cap price. This article explains what each end of the band means, why the corridor exists, how bids…
- IPO Refund Process
- In an Indian public issue your application money never leaves your bank account, so a refund today means the release of a block rather than the return of a payment. This guide…
- IPO Registrar
- The registrar to the issue is the SEBI-registered agency that reconciles every bid against every bank block, decides which applications are technically valid, runs the allotment…
- IPO Risks for Retail Investors
- A plain inventory of what can go wrong when a retail investor applies to a public issue: the price is set by the seller, the disclosure record is short and issuer-authored, locked…
- IPO Subscription Data
- Every IPO subscription figure is one division: shares bidders asked for, divided by shares offered to that group. This guide unpacks what sits in each half of that fraction, why…
- IPO UPI Mandate Failure
- You tap apply, the broker says the bid was submitted, and the approval request never reaches your payments app. This guide walks a beginner through the five places a UPI mandate…
- IPO Valuation
- An IPO price band is not an independent appraisal of what a company is worth. It is a number the seller proposes, supported by chosen metrics and a chosen peer set. This guide…
- ISIN Number
- An International Securities Identification Number is a standard twelve-character identifier assigned to a specific security. It distinguishes the instrument independently of an…
L
- Large Cap vs Mid Cap vs Small Cap
- Large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap labels group listed companies by market capitalisation rank or thresholds defined for a particular purpose. In India, regulatory classifications…
- Lead Managers in an IPO
- Book running lead managers do the due diligence, draft the offer document, market the issue to institutions, build the book and recommend the price. They also work for the seller…
M
- Mainboard vs SME IPO
- Two companies can run a public issue in the same week and end up on completely different platforms with different rulebooks. This article compares the mainboard with the SME…
- Manipal Health IPO
- Manipal Health IPO 2026 brings one of India's largest healthcare companies to the stock market. Check IPO dates, price band, GMP, financials, strengths, risks, subscription…
- Market Capitalization
- Market capitalisation is the market value of a company’s outstanding equity shares, calculated by multiplying the current share price by the relevant number of outstanding shares…
- Market Order vs Limit Order
- A market order prioritises immediate execution at available prices, while a limit order sets the worst acceptable price and executes only when matching liquidity is available…
N
- NSE vs BSE
- NSE and BSE are recognised Indian stock exchanges that provide regulated venues for trading securities. BSE has a longer operating history, while NSE helped popularise nationwide…
- Number of Trades
- Number of trades is the count of matched transactions recorded for a security during a stated period. It differs from volume because one trade may contain one share or thousands…
P
- Peer Comparison in an IPO
- Every Indian offer document carries a table comparing the issuer with listed peers. The companies in that table are selected by the issuer, and the selection quietly shapes…
- Pre-IPO Placement
- Before a company opens its public issue, it can sell shares privately to a small group of chosen investors. This note explains who buys in a pre-IPO placement, how such a round…
Q
- QIB NII Retail Categories in IPO
- Every mainboard IPO in India divides its shares among qualified institutional buyers, non-institutional investors and retail individual investors, with each group bidding into its…
S
- Sensex vs Nifty 50
- Sensex and Nifty 50 are prominent Indian equity indices. Sensex tracks a selected basket on BSE, while Nifty 50 tracks a broader fifty-company basket on NSE under their respective…
T
- T+1 Settlement
- T+1 settlement means that eligible securities and funds are scheduled to settle one business day after the trade date, subject to exchange, clearing, banking and depository rules…
U
- UPI IPO Process
- Applying for an IPO through a broker means typing a UPI ID into a bid form and then approving a request on your phone. Between those two actions sits a chain of intermediaries…
- Upper Circuit vs Lower Circuit
- An upper circuit is the highest permitted trading price for a security under its current price band, while a lower circuit is the lowest. Reaching either boundary does not…
V
- Volume vs Turnover
- Volume measures the number of shares or contracts traded during a period, while turnover measures the monetary value of those trades under the exchange or data provider’s stated…
W
- What Is a DRHP
- A Draft Red Herring Prospectus is the detailed offer document a company files with SEBI before an IPO, containing restated financials, risk factors, litigation history and the…
- What Is a Share
- A share is one unit into which a company divides its ownership capital. Holding a share can provide economic and voting rights according to the company’s constitutional documents…
- What Is an IPO?
- A beginner-friendly explanation of how a private company offers shares to the public and what investors should evaluate.
- What Is an RHP
- A Red Herring Prospectus is the document under which an IPO is actually offered to the public. It carries the dates, the bid lot and usually the price band, but not the final…
- What Is Equity
- Equity is the residual ownership interest in a business after its liabilities are deducted from its assets. In market conversation, the word also refers broadly to ordinary shares…
- What Is IPO GMP?
- Learn what grey market premium means, why it changes, and why unofficial GMP should never be the sole basis for an IPO decision.
- What Is Stock Market
- The stock market is the organised system through which ownership units of listed companies are issued and traded. It includes exchanges, brokers, depositories, clearing…
- Why Do Companies Launch an IPO
- Going public is a financing choice with strings attached. Companies list to fund expansion without repayment obligations, to reduce borrowings, to let founders and early investors…