When there is a bonus issue, the shareholders do not gain at all, because the market value of the share is based on the amount of dividend received. Bonus shares are a strategic move that companies deploy in order to strengthen their equity base, increase retail participation and establish strong credibility. For shareholders, bonus shares are a way to gain a lot – a more liquid stock, increased investment, loan payments, collateral takeover, etc.

The record date is the date by which you must have the share in your Demat account. For instance, BEL has considered 16th September as the record date. Shareholders will only be eligible for the bonus share if they have BEL in their Demat account until September 16, 2022. The government of India has set a limit on the percentage of shareholding that foreign shareholders are allowed to have in a company depending on certain industry sectors. The following are some of the unique features of bonus shares issuance. As at November-end in 2022, the price of 1 share of Wipro is nearly INR 407 while that of MRF Ltd is nearly INR 93,556.

Issuance Criteria: How Companies Offer Bonus Shares

With Navi, you get to explore a host of low-cost index funds that could fetch you better returns in the future! Download the Navi app today, explore a wide range of funds and start investing today. Juzer Gabajiwala has over 20 years in the field of investments and finance. He joined Ventura Securities Limited in 2005 as head of mutual fund products distribution and has been Director at the company since 2008.

To be eligible for the bonus issue, investors must buy shares before the ex-date. It is because the T+2 settlement cycle is followed in India for the delivery of shares. If the shares are bought on or after the ex-date, they will not be credited into demat account by the set record date and buyers will not be eligible for the bonus shares. A. When companies issue additional shares to existing shareholders free of cost, they are known as bonus shares.

• This results in the ultimate percentage holding of each shareholder remaining unchanged in the company with no dilution of shareholder stake across a specific class or the entire cap table.
• The compensation for fractional shares must be included in the total of the sales and is taxed as a total capital gain.
• Following the attribution, a balance of unallocated shares corresponding to the fractional shares remains.
• Bonus shares would be issued out of reserves and surplus worth Rs 192 crore as on March 31.

In sum, in order to be eligible for a bonus issue, you need to hold the shares on the record date. If you don’t own the shares already, you can buy the shares before the ex-bonus date if you want to participate in the bonus issue. For instance, recently, Nykaa declared a bonus with the record date as Nov. 11, 2022 and the ex-bonus date as Nov 10, 2022. This means that in order to be eligible for the bonus issue you had to buy shares of Nykaa by Nov. 9 to get a delivery in two trading days, i.e., by Nov. 11, 2022, which was the record date. As with all investment instruments, bonus shares have certain tax implications and are subject to various legal aspects.

Who is Eligible to Receive Bonus Shares?

If you want to participate in a bonus issue, your goal should be to have the stock as part of your demat account holdings on the record date. For illustration, if the settlement cycle is T+2 days, you’ll have to buy the stock a minimum of one day before the ex-date, for it to reach your demat account on record date. If a company plans to issue bonus shares to non-resident shareholders, it must ensure that the resultant shareholding after issuance of these shares are within the sectoral limits. Essentially, it’s when a company gives out extra shares to its current shareholders. It’s a way for companies to show appreciation to their shareholders. Any current shareholder of a company as of the date of announcement can receive bonus shares.

After announcing a bonus share, the company announces the record date. It is the date at which records are checked to determine the eligible shareholders. An investor would buy the shares in a company knowing that the company has announced a bonus issue to its existing shareholders. Once the shares become ex-bonus (see above) the original shares would be sold. The Group distributes a portion of its retained earnings (past undistributed net profit) via this method. Recently, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) issued bonus shares.

What Are the Disadvantages of Bonus Shares?

They are provided based on already existing shares of the shareholders. The company’s existing shareholders are not required to pay anything to get bonus shares. The value of shares of a company decreases in the market whenever a bonus share is issued. Companies primarily issue bonus shares when they cannot pay cash dividends to shareholders due to a shortage of funds, even when they earn profits. Hence, investors are offered bonus shares free of cost instead of receiving cash dividends.

An example, for illustration purposes, could be stocks of Wipro and MRF Ltd. One thing to note here is that the company’s equity share capital remains unchanged while the number of outstanding shares increases. If a company has issued any redeemable preference shares, it must transfer an amount equal to the face value of these shares to the capital redemption reserve account from its profits. The premium component of shares issued is credited to the securities premium account. When making the bonus issue, the securities premium account is debited, and the share capital account is credited. From the Company’s point of view, there is one advantage that the Bonus shares do not result in cash flow, i.e. the company’s resources remain intact.

The market price of shares adjusts in the same ratio in which the bonus shares are allotted. It reduces the price per share, making retail participation easier and increasing its liquidity. Hence, after a bonus issue, the total number of shares increases with a constant ratio of the number of shares held to the number of shares outstanding. The remaining amount can be repaid in instalments when the company makes a call. When the bonus is applied on partly paid shares, and they get converted into fully paid shares, they become known as partly-paid up bonus shares.

Your benefits are preserved

Easy Trip’s focused, capital-light, low-cost, and no-frills approach sets it apart from rest of the online travel agency business in terms of profitability and cash flow. Its margin, however, has been narrowing in the last few quarters. If you buy the share a day before the bonus shares are to be allotted, then, unfortunately, you won’t get a bonus share. The company can use one or a combination of reserves mentioned below to fund its bonus issue. Bonus shares are allotted to a shareholder’s ISIN (International Securities Identification Number).

There are mainly two types of bonus shares – fully paid bonus shares and partly paid bonus shares. Before bonus shares are credited to the shareholder’s demat account, their holdings in Kite/Console may display an artificial drop in P&L. Once the bonus shares are credited to the demat account, the P&L will be restored to its correct value.

Eligible shareholders and investors shall receive dividends or bonus shares from the company on the announced record date. The ex-date precedes the record, and one needs to pay shares before this date to be eligible for bonus shares as it takes time to get delivery of shares. The bonus issue of shares is known by many names – bonus issue, scrip issue, and capitalisation issue. Bonus issue is a term used for the issue of free shares by companies to existing shareholders instead of cash dividends. The bonus issue of shares improves company credibility and increases the company’s share capital without increasing its net assets.

In the past, he has worked with Larsen and Toubro Limited, Telco Dealers Leasing and Finance Limited, IIT Capital Services Limited and Premchand Group. Now let us understand the tax implication and how investors were using this to their advantage. No, it might have chosen to reinvest reserves, i.e., retained earnings and plough them into new projects, investments, acquisitions, etc.

• The Ex-Date  usually falls 1 or 2 business days prior to the record date.
• Hence, it is like the payment of dividends as shares instead of cash.
• The primary purpose of issuing bonus shares is to reward shareholders by increasing the number of shares they hold without diluting their ownership percentage.
• For instance, foreign investment in the insurance sector is allowed up to 49%, mining of precious stones up to 74% under automatic route.
• The remaining amount can be repaid in instalments when the company makes a call.
• Legal aspects of bonus shares include compliance with the Companies Act, 2013, and regulations prescribed by SEBI.

This is achieved by capitalizing on the company’s accumulated earnings and converting a portion of its free reserves into share capital. Consequently, the company’s share capital increases while the overall value of the investment remains unchanged. Bonus shares are additional shares issued to existing shareholders of a company, usually at zero additional cost. The number of bonus shares issued depends on the number of shares a shareholder owns.

Shareholder Perspective: Adding Value for Investors

These shares are sold on the market by the account holders (Air Liquide for direct registered shares, or your financial institution for intermediary registered and bearer shares). The result of this sale will define the average unit selling price of the shares sold. It is based on this average unit selling price that the fractional shares will eligibility for bonus shares be paid out in the second half of June 2022 following the rules described below. If these conditions are met, the shares you hold are eligible for the loyalty bonus which are applied to them without any action on your part. In particular, you benefit from a +10% bonus on the number of free shares allocated at the time of their distribution.

If a user or application submits more than 10 requests per second, further requests from the IP address(es) may be limited for a brief period. Once the rate of requests has dropped below the threshold for 10 minutes, the user may resume accessing content on SEC.gov. This SEC practice is designed to limit excessive automated searches on SEC.gov and is not intended or expected to impact individuals browsing the SEC.gov website.