Record date
The record date is when the company checks its records to identify the eligible shareholders for a corporate action. You are eligible for corporate actions such as entitlement of rights shares, bonus shares, stock splits, dividends, etc., if you hold the shares in your demat account on the record date.
Ex-date
The date on which a stock starts trading without the benefit of corporate action, i.e., ex-benefit, is known as the ex-date. The ex-date and the record date for all the corporate actions are on the same day since all the instruments are moved to the T+1 settlement cycle. A stock will trade with the benefits of the corporate action or cum-benefit (i.e., cum-rights, cum-dividend, etc.) until the ex-date or the record date.
Example scenario
If the record date or ex-date for a corporate action is Wednesday, you must purchase shares on or before Tuesday to qualify for corporate action benefits. The stock will trade with corporate action benefits until Tuesday, after which it will trade ex-corporate action starting Wednesday. Shares you purchase on Wednesday will not be eligible for corporate action benefits.
For instance, if Stock A announces a dividend of ₹10 with a record date on Wednesday and trades at ₹500 on Tuesday, Wednesday will also be the ex-dividend date, causing the stock price to decrease by the dividend amount, which is ₹10. To learn more about how corporate actions affect stock prices, visit zerodha.com/varsity/chapter/five-corporate-actions-and-its-impact-on-stock-prices.
How to check dividend ex-date/record date
NSE
- Visit nseindia.com.
- Scroll down and click on Corporate Actions.
BSE
- Visit bseindia.com.
- Click on Corporates.
- Click on Corporate Action.
Did you know?
The ex-date and record date might differ if there is a trading holiday after the ex-date.