Bonus shares in 2021

Each row is one company with its bonus ratio, record date, ex-date, price and market cap. Issues are grouped by the month of the ex-date, latest first, with a count for each month. Mar 2021 and Aug to Oct 2021 were the busiest months. Power Grid Corporation of India gave 1 for 3 in Jul 2021, and SRF 4 for 1 in Oct 2021.

A ratio of 1 for 2 means one new share for every two held, so 100 shares become 150. A ratio of 1 for 1 doubles the holding. The company's value stays the same, so the price drops in proportion on the ex-date. Bonus shares come out of the company's reserves, not out of shareholders' pockets.

The record date is the day the company reads its register to see who gets the shares. In 2021 trades settled two working days after they were made (T+2), so the ex-date fell one trading day before the record date, and every 2021 row has its ex-date before its record date. A buyer needed to buy before the ex-date to qualify.

A bonus issue adds shares without changing each share's face value. A stock split cuts the face value and multiplies the shares, and it appears on its own list. Neither pays cash, unlike a dividend. A company can appear more than once in a year: Ksolves India had two bonus issues in 2021, 3 for 1 in Jun 2021 and 1 for 1 in Sep 2021.

The price drop on an ex-date is the bonus itself, not a loss. Charts and returns on company pages adjust earlier prices for bonus issues so that the fall does not read as a decline. The price column here is the current price, so it is not comparable with the price at the 2021 ex-date.