How to receive income from shares?

The income received from shares is called a dividend.

We invest in shares to make money – either through a share’s capital growth, i.e. the amount by which the share price increases in value over time, or through the dividends it pays to its shareholders. Dividends are payments made by companies to shareholders from their profits. Not all companies pay dividends. Dividends are usually paid twice a year and are in effect the yield from your investment. Some growth companies plough most of their profits back into generating more business rather than paying out dividends to investors.

How would I get my dividend/interest or other cash entitlements?
The concerned company obtains the details of beneficiary holders and their holdings from the depository. The payment to the investors will be made by the company through the ECS, or Electronic Clearing Service, facility or by issuing warrants on which your bank account details are printed. The bank account details will be those, which you would have mentioned in your account opening, form or changed thereafter.

How would I get my bonus shares or other non-cash entitlements?
The concerned company obtains the details of beneficiary holders and their holdings from NSDL. Your entitlement will be credited by the company directly in your depository account.

ICICI shares drop 14% as banks mauled

Shares in ICICI Bank, India's second-biggest bank, fell nearly 14 percent to a two-year low on Monday, hurt by foreign fund selling and worries about the impact of the global credit problems.

By 0925 GMT, the shares were down 11.2 percent at 498.20 rupees, taking their losses to more than a quarter this month and 60 percent this year.

"Wherever there was FII ownership, the correction is happening," said Jayesh Shroff, a fund manager at SBI Mutual Funds, referring to foreign institutional investors (FII).

"There are lots of rumours floating too, but I don't think the problems for Indian banks are so big that they can collapse," he said. Foreign ownership in ICICI was close to 70 percent, according to stock exchange filings, with shareholders including Singapore state investor Temasek and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC).

In a Sept. 2 report, Morgan Stanley listed ICICI at the top of Asian banks most exposed to a downturn in markets. Two weeks later, ICICI said it had exposure of about $81 million to Lehman Brothers senior bonds and would need to increase provisions by about $28 million to cover half that.

Broker Edelweiss Capital has said it expected ICICI to post $200 million in losses on bonds, including Lehman-issued debt. Both the bank's joint managing director and the chief executive responded to market worries about ICICI's exposure to the credit turmoil by going on television earlier this month to say the bank was extremely healthy and had ample capital.

A spokesman for ICICI said the bank planned to launch advertising campaigns in some regional media to tell customers the bank was not facing any difficulties.

"Basically, we need to clear all confusion. The campaign should roll out in the coming weeks," Charudatta Deshpande said.

The Mumbai Stock Exchange's bank sector sub-index was down 6.2 percent on Monday, and has fallen 46 percent so far this year. The benchmark BSE Sensex index was off 3.7 percent

TCS, Satyam Computer hit 52-week lows intraday

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services fell 8.4 per cent to Rs 619.65 on Monday, slightly off the 52-week low of Rs 612.1 touched intra-day.

Analysts at foreign brokerage houses point out that TCS generated nearly 43.6 per cent of its FY 08 revenues of Rs 22, 861.4 crore from the banking, financial and insurance sector (BFSI).

In addition, TCS exposure to the financial sector in terms of generating revenues is the highest amongst the top 5 Indian IT companies, with Satyam Computer at the lowest.

And given the current uncertainties in the global financial system due to the collapse of several iconic American institutions, market sources point out that punters are exiting from stocks like TCS in droves.

Even companies like Satyam, which derived 21.4 per cent of their June 2009 revenues of Rs 2620 crore from the BFSI segment, saw its stock reach an intra-day 52-week low of Rs 289. The stock closed at Rs 292.55, down 9.1 per cent.

Rupee hits 47-level against US dollar

Rupee today breached the 47-level against the greenback for the first time in more than two years on sustained demand for US dollar amidst shortage of supply even as the stocks markets in Europe and Asia tumbled.

In hectic trade at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local currency resumed lower at 46.88/90 a dollar from its last weekend's close of 46.54/55 a dollar and tumbled to the 47-level against dollar.

The rupee had last seen the 47-level on July 19, 2006. Forex dealers said a plunge in local stocks and sustained dollar demand amid consistent capital outflows weighed on the rupee sentiment.

They said investors anticipated further scarcity of dollar amid American financial upheaval spreading to Europe.

Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark Sensex today plunged by more than 5.34 per cent in the late afternoon trading.

Gold prices up by Rs 1,000 in early trade

Gold prices surged by Rs 1,000 to Rs 12,915 per 10 gram in opening trade today in the bullion market here owing to firm global cues and melting stock markets.

Traders said gold sparkled as an alternate investment option in global as well as in domestic markets amidst a plunge in stock markets following deepening of credit crisis in the US.

Standard gold and ornaments prices shot up by Rs 1,000 each to Rs 12,915 and Rs 12,765 per 10 gram respectively. In global markets, gold prices posted the biggest one-day gain of 8.4 per cent at USD 870 an ounce, since 1980 as fears of more credit market turmoil unnerved investors and triggered safe-haven buying in precious metal.

Meanwhile, gold futures at country's leading Multi Commodity Exchange surged 4.22 per cent to Rs 13,133 per 10 gram for far-month February contract in early trade.

Buy a dollar for 46.42 rupees

Rupee trimmed losses to close at the day's high on Thursday helped by dollar selling by the central bank and a recovery in the local share market, which slumped more than 5 percent in early trade.

Rupee ended at 46.42/43 per dollar, still 0.2 percent weaker than 46.33/35 at close on Wednesday. On Tuesday, it fell to 46.99, its lowest since July 2006, according to Reuters data.

Rupee weakens past 45 a dollar as stock market losses weigh

The rupee weakened past 45 per dollar for the first time since November 2006 on Wednesday as stock market losses raised expectations of more foreign fund outflows while strong dollar demand from foreign banks weighed.

The rupee closed at 45.12 per dollar, 0.62% weaker than Tuesday’s close of 44.84.

The breaching of the crucial 45-level by the rupee against the US dollar for the first time in 21-month may augur well for exports in the country, but is likely to fuel inflation further, which is hovering over 12 per cent at present, experts feel.

"The huge demand for dollar and mismatch in supply have led to the continuous pressure on rupee, while foreign inflows have also slowed down this year. The depreciation could be a cause of concern for the inflation levels in the country as well although it may help the exporters," Punjab National Bank General Manager Arun Kaul said.

The Indian rupee today breached the crucial 45-level against the US currency for the first time after November 2006 following sustained appreciation in dollar against major currencies in overseas markets.

Marketmen believe the uncertainty in the forex market is likely to continue for the coming days and the decline of rupee would obviously impact the imports of the country, with the main one being crude oil.

"After breaching the 45 a dollar mark, the rupee is likely to face strong resistance in the 45.5 to 46 a dollar range. And it is unlikely that it might drop further to 46 levels. It is likely to consolidate at current levels for the next 10-15 days," brokerage firm SMC Global Vice President Rajesh Jain said.

The Indian rupee, which has seen appreciated to as much as 39 against the dollar last year, but the INR has again started depreciating since June this year.