The Indian market terms used across our coverage — indices and flows, derivatives, valuation, macro policy and chart language — defined in plain English, in the order a new reader needs them.
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The vocabulary of a trading session: how size, price bands and settlement are described.
Also called: market cap
The total value of a listed company at the current price: share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. It is how companies are ranked as large, mid or small cap, and it moves with the price every second of the session.
Related: Free-Float Market Capitalisation, Price-to-Earnings Ratio
Also called: free float
Market value of only those shares that are available for public trading, excluding promoter holdings and other locked-in stakes. NSE and BSE indices are weighted by free float, so a company with a large promoter stake carries less index weight than its full market cap suggests.
Related: Market Capitalisation, Promoter Holding
Also called: par value
The nominal value printed on a share, commonly Re 1, Rs 2 or Rs 10. It is not the market price: dividends are declared per share of face value, and splits and bonus issues are expressed against it.
Related: Stock Split, Bonus Issue
Also called: net worth per share
Shareholders funds divided by the number of shares outstanding. Comparing it with the market price gives the price-to-book ratio, which is a common starting point for banks and other asset-heavy businesses.
Related: Price-to-Book Ratio, Return on Equity
Also called: advance decline
The balance between rising and falling stocks across the market. Broad strength means most shares are participating; narrowing breadth means an index is being carried by a handful of heavyweights, which is often a warning sign.
Related: Advance-Decline Ratio, Nifty 50
Also called: AD ratio
The number of advancing stocks divided by the number of declining stocks in a session. A reading above one means more shares rose than fell, which is a quick way to judge whether an index move was broad or narrow.
Related: Market Breadth
Also called: price band, circuit limit
The daily price band an exchange sets for a stock, typically 5, 10 or 20 per cent of the previous close. Trading halts at the limit: an upper circuit means buyers are queued with no sellers, a lower circuit the reverse.
Related: Price Band, Liquidity
Also called: settlement cycle
Indian equities settle one business day after the trade, so shares and funds change hands on the next working day. It is why selling and buying again the next morning is possible, and why pay-in obligations fall due so quickly.
Related: Delivery Percentage, T+1 Settlement
Also called: delivery volume
The share of a stock traded quantity that resulted in actual delivery rather than intraday squaring-off. A high delivery percentage is usually read as positional buying or selling; a low one as speculative churn.
Related: Open Interest, T+1 Settlement
Also called: depth
How easily a position can be bought or sold without moving the price. It is judged by traded value, bid-ask spread and order-book depth; thin liquidity is what makes a small-cap move violently on modest volumes.
Related: Market Capitalisation, Volume
Also called: operating range
Either the exchange-set daily circuit limit for a stock, or the price range in an IPO book build within which investors must bid. The meaning is clear from context: a band on a listed stock is a circuit, a band in a new issue is a valuation range.
What the headline numbers mean, and how index membership changes a stock.
Also called: Nifty, NSE benchmark
The National Stock Exchange benchmark index of 50 large, liquid companies spanning major sectors, weighted by free-float market capitalisation. It is the reference for most Indian equity portfolios and the underlying for the most active derivatives contracts.
Related: Sensex, Free-Float Market Capitalisation, Bank Nifty
Also called: BSE Sensex
The BSE benchmark index of 30 large, well-established companies. Older than the Nifty, it is still the number most often quoted in headlines, and it moves with the same drivers as its NSE counterpart.
Related: Nifty 50
Also called: Nifty Bank
The NSE sector index of the most liquid listed banks. Banking carries the largest weight in Indian benchmarks, so Bank Nifty is watched as the high-beta expression of the same market view.
Also called: index reconstitution
The scheduled review in which an index adds or removes constituents. Inclusion brings buying from index-tracking funds, and exclusion brings selling, so the announcement date itself moves prices.
Related: Free-Float Market Capitalisation, Foreign Portfolio Investor
Also called: volatility index, fear index
The National Stock Exchange volatility index derived from Nifty option prices. A rising VIX means the market is paying up for protection and expecting sharper swings; a falling VIX signals calm.
Related: Implied Volatility, Put Option
Also called: systematic risk
A measure of how much a stock moves relative to its benchmark. A beta above one means it typically swings more than the index, below one less; it is a historical estimate, not a forecast.
Related: India VIX, Bank Nifty
Who is buying: the participants whose activity the daily numbers track.
Also called: foreign institutional investor, FII buying, FII selling
Net buying or selling by foreign institutional investors in Indian equities, published daily by the exchanges. Sustained FII selling pressures the rupee as well as prices, which is why the number is reported alongside the index move.
Related: Foreign Portfolio Investor, DII Activity, Foreign Exchange Reserves
Also called: domestic institutional investor
Net buying or selling by domestic institutions such as mutual funds, insurers, banks and pension funds. DII flows are tracked as the counterweight to foreign flows, and domestic funds buying into FII selling has repeatedly cushioned Indian drawdowns.
Related: FII Activity, Market Capitalisation
Also called: FPI
The Securities and Exchange Board of India registration category under which foreign funds invest in Indian securities today, having replaced the older FII and sub-account structure. Registration type decides investment limits and disclosure obligations.
Related: FII Activity, Securities and Exchange Board of India
Also called: bulk transaction
A single-day transaction in a listed stock of more than 0.5 per cent of the company paid-up equity, disclosed by the exchange on the same evening. It shows up in price and volume as a single large trade.
Related: Block Deal, Delivery Percentage
Also called: negotiated deal
A large negotiated trade executed through a dedicated exchange window rather than the order book, with a minimum transaction value and a short reporting window. Block deals are a common route for a promoter or institution to move a stake without disturbing the market.
Related: Bulk Deal, Offer for Sale, Promoter Holding
Also called: promoter stake
The share of a company held by its promoters. Quarterly disclosure makes it a governance signal: rising pledges, creeping dilution or an unexplained selldown are read as warnings, while a promoter adding shares is read as conviction.
Related: Pledge, Block Deal, Free-Float Market Capitalisation
Also called: promoter pledge, encumbered shares
Shares committed as collateral for a loan. High promoter pledge is a risk marker, because a falling share price can trigger more collateral being demanded and, in the worst case, forced sale of pledged shares.
Related: Promoter Holding
Events that change the share count, the price, or the pool of owners.
Also called: IPO, listing
A company first sale of shares to the public, priced either at a fixed price or through a book build within a band. Allotment, listing gains and the lock-in on anchor investors are the parts of an IPO a reader actually asks about.
Related: SME IPO, Grey Market Premium, Price Band
Also called: NSE Emerge listing, SME board
A public issue on the dedicated small and medium enterprise platforms of the exchanges. Minimum ticket sizes are larger, liquidity after listing is thinner, and price discovery is generally more volatile than on the main board.
Related: Initial Public Offering, Liquidity
Also called: OFS
A sale of existing shares by promoters or large shareholders through the exchange, with no fresh money going to the company. It reduces float without raising capital, and the floor price signals what the seller considers fair.
Related: Follow-on Public Offer, Promoter Holding, Free-Float Market Capitalisation
Also called: FPO
A further issue of shares to the public by a company that is already listed, which does raise fresh capital. It is dilutive to existing holders unless they subscribe in proportion.
Related: Initial Public Offering, Rights Issue, Offer for Sale
Also called: GMP
The unofficial premium at which shares of an unlisted, upcoming issue are traded before listing. It is an unregulated, thin market, so GMP is an indication of demand sentiment and never a promise of listing gain.
Related: Initial Public Offering, SME IPO
Also called: bonus shares
Free additional shares issued to existing holders in a ratio such as 1:1. The share count rises and the price adjusts proportionately, so the holding value is unchanged: it is a signal of confidence and of reserves, not a windfall.
Related: Stock Split, Face Value
Also called: share split
Splitting one share into several of lower face value, for example Rs 10 into Rs 2. The price falls in the same proportion and the investor holding value is unchanged; the purpose is affordability and wider participation.
Related: Bonus Issue, Face Value
Also called: share repurchase
A company buying its own shares, through a tender offer or in the open market. It reduces the share count, lifts earnings per share mechanically, and is a way of returning cash to holders, sometimes at a premium to the market price.
Related: Earnings Per Share, Dividend Yield
Also called: rights entitlement
An offer of new shares to existing holders in proportion to their holding, usually at a discount. It protects holders from dilution if they subscribe, and the rights entitlement itself can be sold in the market.
Related: Follow-on Public Offer, Record Date
Also called: yield
Annual dividend per share as a percentage of the current market price. A high yield can mean an income opportunity or a market expectation that the dividend will be cut, which is why the payout ratio matters as much as the yield.
Related: Record Date, Ex-Dividend Date
Also called: entitlement date
The date on which a company fixes the list of holders entitled to a dividend, bonus or rights entitlement. To be on that list you must own the shares before the ex-date.
Related: Ex-Dividend Date, Dividend Yield
Also called: ex-date
The first day on which a buyer of the shares no longer receives the announced dividend or entitlement. The price adjusts by roughly the payout on that morning, which is why a headline fall on an ex-date is not a loss of value.
Related: Record Date, Dividend Yield
Contracts on a future price: how traders hedge, and what the positioning numbers mean.
Also called: futures, F&O
An agreement to buy or sell an underlying at a fixed price on a future date. Positions are marked to market daily, so losses are paid as they accrue, and leverage means a small adverse move consumes a large part of the margin.
Related: Options Contract, Open Interest, Expiry Day
Also called: option, derivatives
A contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying at a strike price before expiry. The buyer pays a premium and risks only that premium; the seller collects it and carries the open-ended risk.
Related: Call Option, Put Option, Implied Volatility
Also called: CE
The right to buy the underlying at the strike price. A call buyer profits when the price rises above the strike by more than the premium paid, which is why calls are the bullish leg of most option strategies.
Related: Put Option, Strike Price, Premium
Also called: PE
The right to sell the underlying at the strike price. Puts are bought as insurance on a portfolio or as a direct bearish position, and put buying is what typically lifts the volatility index.
Related: Call Option, India VIX, Hedging
Also called: exercise price
The price at which an option can be exercised. Options are described as in the money, at the money or out of the money relative to the underlying, and that distance decides the premium.
Related: Call Option, Put Option, Premium
Also called: option price
The price paid by an option buyer to the seller. It has an intrinsic part, from how far the strike is already in the money, and a time part, which decays as expiry approaches.
Related: Strike Price, Implied Volatility, Expiry Day
Also called: OI, outstanding contracts
The number of derivative contracts still outstanding. Rising open interest with a rising price is read as fresh long build-up; rising open interest with a falling price as short build-up, which is why the two are read together.
Related: Futures Contract, Rollover, Short Selling
Also called: IV
The volatility the market is paying for, backed out of an option price. Higher implied volatility means costlier premiums for the same strike, so a position can be right on direction and still lose money if volatility collapses.
Related: India VIX, Premium, Options Contract
Also called: roll, carry forward
Carrying a derivatives position into the next expiry instead of settling it. A high rollover percentage in a stock is read as traders expecting the trend or the move to continue.
Related: Expiry Day, Open Interest, Futures Contract
Also called: F&O expiry
The last trading day of a derivatives contract, when unsettled positions must be squared off or rolled. Expiry sessions are volatile because of the premium at stake and the unwinding of hedges.
Related: Rollover, Premium, Open Interest
Also called: insurance, hedge
Taking a position that offsets the risk of another. A holder can buy index puts to cap downside without selling the underlying, which is what makes derivatives useful to long-term investors rather than only to traders.
Related: Put Option, Arbitrage, Futures Contract
The numbers behind a price: what a company earns, owns and owes.
Also called: P/E, PE ratio
The market price divided by earnings per share: how many rupees a buyer pays for one rupee of annual profit. It is only comparable within an industry, and a low reading can mean either value or a market expectation of falling profits.
Related: Earnings Per Share, Price-to-Book Ratio
Also called: EPS
Net profit divided by the number of shares outstanding. It is the denominator of the price-to-earnings ratio, and it rises on its own after a buyback because the share count falls.
Related: Price-to-Earnings Ratio, Profit After Tax, Buyback
Also called: P/B, PB ratio
Market price divided by book value per share. It is the standard lens for banks and lenders, where the balance sheet is the business, and a sustained discount to book is the market saying it does not trust the asset quality.
Related: Book Value Per Share, Return on Equity
Also called: ROE
Net profit as a percentage of shareholders equity: what the company earns on owner capital. It can be flattered by debt, so it is read alongside leverage rather than on its own.
Related: Return on Capital Employed, Debt-to-Equity Ratio, Price-to-Book Ratio
Also called: ROCE
Operating profit as a percentage of total capital employed, including debt. Because it counts borrowed money too, it compares capital efficiency across companies with different balance sheets, which ROE cannot.
Related: Return on Equity, EBITDA, Debt-to-Equity Ratio
Also called: operating profit
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation: profit from operations before financing and accounting charges. It is a rough proxy for operating cash generation, and analysts strip it further to adjusted EBITDA for one-off items.
Related: Profit After Tax, Return on Capital Employed
Also called: PAT, net profit, bottom line
The profit left after all expenses, interest and tax: the number reported in the headline and used for earnings per share. It is the cleanest single measure of what belongs to shareholders in a period.
Related: EBITDA, Earnings Per Share
Also called: D/E, leverage
Total debt divided by shareholders equity. It shows how much of the business is funded by borrowing, and it is the first number to check before crediting a high return on equity to management skill.
Related: Return on Equity, Working Capital, Interest Coverage Ratio
Also called: debt servicing
Operating profit divided by interest expense: how many times over the company can pay its interest from operations. A cover below about two times is a warning that a bad year could put the debt at risk.
Related: Debt-to-Equity Ratio, EBITDA
Also called: current assets, net current assets
Current assets minus current liabilities: the short-term funds a business runs on. A rising receivable cycle that keeps working capital stretched is the usual reason a profitable company still runs short of cash.
Related: Debt-to-Equity Ratio, Profit After Tax
Rates, prices and the official numbers that set the backdrop for every stock.
Also called: policy rate, RBI rate
The rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends short-term funds to banks against government securities. It is the main policy rate, and a change in it moves lending and deposit rates, bond yields and rate-sensitive sectors first.
Related: Reverse Repo Rate, Cash Reserve Ratio, Monetary Policy Committee
Also called: SDF, liquidity absorption
The rate at which the RBI absorbs surplus cash from banks. It sits at the floor of the liquidity corridor, alongside the marginal standing facility at the ceiling, and sets the very short end of the money market.
Related: Repo Rate, Liquidity, Open Market Operations
Also called: CRR
The share of deposits that banks must hold with the RBI as cash, on which they earn nothing. Raising it takes money out of the lending system without changing the policy rate, which is why CRR changes are announced as liquidity measures.
Related: Statutory Liquidity Ratio, Repo Rate, Open Market Operations
Also called: SLR
The share of deposits banks must hold in government securities, cash or other approved assets. SLR holding is what makes banks the natural buyers of government bonds, and a cut releases funds for lending.
Related: Cash Reserve Ratio, Bond Yield
Also called: OMO
The RBI buying or selling government securities in the market to inject or drain durable liquidity. Unlike a repo, an OMO purchase stays in the system, which is why larger OMO plans move bond yields more than a rate decision sometimes does.
Related: Repo Rate, Bond Yield, Cash Reserve Ratio
Also called: MPC, RBI policy
The six-member committee that sets the policy repo rate, with a mandate to hold consumer price inflation at four per cent with a two per cent band either way. Meetings are six times a year and the vote split is read for the direction of travel.
Related: Repo Rate, CPI Inflation
Also called: retail inflation, consumer price index
The year-on-year rise in the consumer price index, weighted towards food and fuel. It is the retail inflation number the RBI targets, so a hot or cool print moves rate expectations more than any other data release.
Related: WPI Inflation, Monetary Policy Committee
Also called: wholesale price index
The year-on-year rise in wholesale prices, covering goods trade at the producer level. It typically leads retail inflation, and a widening gap between the two tells you which part of the chain is absorbing the pressure.
Related: CPI Inflation
Also called: GDP, GDP growth
The market value of everything produced in the economy in a period, reported quarterly and revised later. Equity revenues track nominal GDP over time, so the quarterly print and the revisions both matter.
Related: Fiscal Deficit, CPI Inflation
Also called: budget deficit
The gap between what the government spends and what it collects, expressed as a share of GDP. A higher deficit means more borrowing, which competes with companies for funds and pressures bond yields.
Related: Bond Yield, Gross Domestic Product
Also called: G-sec yield, 10-year yield
The return a buyer earns by holding a bond to maturity, moving inversely to its price. The ten-year government yield is the benchmark for every other borrowing cost in the economy, from home loans to corporate paper.
Related: Open Market Operations, Fiscal Deficit, Repo Rate
Also called: forex reserves, RBI reserves
The RBI holdings of foreign currency assets, gold, special drawing rights and its reserve position with the International Monetary Fund. Reserves fund intervention to steady the rupee, so a sharp weekly fall is read as the central bank defending the currency.
Related: FII Activity, Bond Yield
Also called: SEBI, market regulator
The statutory regulator for Indian securities markets, covering disclosures, insider trading, takeovers and investor protection. Its circulars decide listing rules, and an enforcement order on a stock is a re-rating event in itself.
Related: Foreign Portfolio Investor, Insider Trading
Also called: unpublished price sensitive information
Trading on material information about a company that is not yet public, which SEBI prohibits under its insider trading regulations. Disclosure of promoter and key-manager trades is part of the same framework.
Related: Securities and Exchange Board of India, Promoter Holding
Chart vocabulary: the levels, averages and signals quoted in market reports.
Also called: S/R levels, demand zone
Price levels where buying or selling has repeatedly emerged, so the market pauses there. A break of support on heavy volume is treated as a change in trend; a failure to break resistance as a ceiling.
Related: Moving Average, Breakout
Also called: DMA, SMA, EMA
The average closing price over a chosen number of sessions, redrawn each day. The 50-day and 200-day averages are the widely watched trend lines, and price holding above the 200-day is the common definition of a long-term uptrend.
Related: Golden Cross and Death Cross, Support and Resistance
Also called: golden cross, death cross
A golden cross is the 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day, taken as a bullish trend signal; a death cross is the reverse. Both are lagging signals, which is why they confirm a trend rather than anticipate it.
Related: Moving Average, Relative Strength Index
Also called: RSI
A momentum oscillator between zero and one hundred, comparing average gains with average losses over the lookback period. Above 70 is commonly read as overbought and below 30 as oversold, though strong trends can stay stretched for weeks.
Related: Moving Average Convergence Divergence, Moving Average
Also called: MACD
A momentum indicator built from the difference between two moving averages, plotted with a signal line. A cross of the signal line is the most quoted reading, and divergences with price are treated as warnings.
Related: Relative Strength Index, Moving Average
Also called: breakdown, range break
A decisive move out of a price range that has contained the stock, usually on expanded volume. Traders judge a breakout by whether the level then holds as support, which is why the retest matters more than the first move.
Related: Support and Resistance, Volume
Also called: SL, trailing stop
A pre-set exit level that caps the loss on a position, and the only part of a trade that is decided before emotion is involved. A trailing stop moves with the price to protect an unrealised gain.
Related: Risk-Reward Ratio, Short Selling
Also called: R:R, risk reward
The potential gain on a trade divided by the potential loss if the stop is hit. A strategy can be right less than half the time and still make money at a good ratio, which is why position sizing follows the ratio rather than conviction.
Also called: shorting, short position
Selling shares that are not owned, in order to buy them back lower and profit from the fall. Retail investors can do it intraday in the cash segment, and beyond that through derivatives, which is why short build-up is tracked in the futures data.
Related: Open Interest, Futures Contract
Also called: arb, cash-futures spread
Profiting from the same asset trading at two prices, most commonly cash versus futures near expiry. Arbitrage is low-risk by construction, so returns are thin and volumes large, which is why arbitrage positions show up as unusual delivery volumes.
Related: Delivery Percentage, Hedging
Also called: traded quantity, turnover
The number of shares traded in a session, used to judge conviction behind a price move. A breakout or breakdown on unusually high volume is treated as real; the same move on thin volume as noise.
Related: Breakout, Delivery Percentage, Liquidity
The glossary explains the words; the dashboards show the numbers. Every definition links to the page where that term does its work.