Finance Basic terms

Stock Exchange
The Securities Contract (Regulation) Act, 1956 [SCRA] defines ‘Stock
Exchange’ as any body of individuals, whether incorporated or not,
constituted for the purpose of assisting, regulating or controlling the
business of buying, selling or dealing in securities. Stock exchange could be
a regional stock exchange whose area of operation/jurisdiction is specified at
the time of its recognition or national exchanges, which are permitted to
have nationwide trading since inception. NSE was incorporated as a national
stock exchange.

Equity/Share
Total equity capital of a company is divided into equal units of small
denominations, each called a share. For example, in a company the total
equity capital of Rs 2,00,00,000 is divided into 20,00,000 units of Rs 10
each. Each such unit of Rs 10 is called a Share. Thus, the company then is
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said to have 20,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each. The holders of such
shares are members of the company and have voting rights.

Debt Instrument
Debt instrument represents a contract whereby one party lends money to
another on pre-determined terms with regards to rate and periodicity of
interest, repayment of principal amount by the borrower to the lender.
In the Indian securities markets, the term ‘bond’ is used for debt
instruments issued by the Central and State governments and public sector
organizations and the term ‘debenture’ is used for instruments issued by
private corporate sector.

Derivative?
Derivative is a product whose value is derived from the value of one or more
basic variables, called underlying. The underlying asset can be equity, index,
foreign exchange (forex), commodity or any other asset.
Derivative products initially emerged as hedging devices against fluctuations
in commodity prices and commodity-linked derivatives remained the sole
form of such products for almost three hundred years. The financial
derivatives came into spotlight in post-1970 period due to growing instability
in the financial markets. However, since their emergence, these products
have become very popular and by 1990s, they accounted for about twothirds
of total transactions in derivative products.

Mutual Fund?
A Mutual Fund is a body corporate registered with SEBI (Securities Exchange
Board of India) that pools money from individuals/corporate investors and
invests the same in a variety of different financial instruments or securities
such as equity shares, Government securities, Bonds, debentures etc.
Mutual funds can thus be considered as financial intermediaries in the
investment business that collect funds from the public and invest on behalf
of the investors. Mutual funds issue units to the investors. The appreciation
of the portfolio or securities in which the mutual fund has invested the
money leads to an appreciation in the value of the units held by investors.
The investment objectives outlined by a Mutual Fund in its prospectus are
binding on the Mutual Fund scheme. The investment objectives specify the
class of securities a Mutual Fund can invest in. Mutual Funds invest in
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various asset classes like equity, bonds, debentures, commercial paper and
government securities. The schemes offered by mutual funds vary from fund
to fund. Some are pure equity schemes; others are a mix of equity and
bonds. Investors are also given the option of getting dividends, which are
declared periodically by the mutual fund, or to participate only in the capital
appreciation of the scheme.

Index
An Index shows how a specified portfolio of share prices are moving in order
to give an indication of market trends. It is a basket of securities and the
average price movement of the basket of securities indicates the index
movement, whether upwards or downwards.

Depository
A depository is like a bank wherein the deposits are securities (viz. shares,
debentures, bonds, government securities, units etc.) in electronic form.

Dematerialization
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 investor’s account with his Depository Participant (DP).