You read about a company, open your broking app and type its name into the search box. Six rows come back. Two carry almost the same name, one ends in a suffix you have never seen, one sits on a different exchange and shows a six-digit number instead of a name, and one is marked with a series code that is not the usual one. Every row is a real listed security. Only one of them is the thing you meant to buy.
Four separate identifiers are involved, assigned by four different institutions for four different purposes. None of them is the company’s name, and the one that decides what actually lands in your demat account is the one nobody looks at.
| Identifier | Assigned by | What it identifies | Does it change? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company name | The Registrar of Companies, at incorporation | The legal entity | Yes — on a rebranding, a merger or a change of business |
| Trading symbol | The exchange | The security as it trades on that exchange | Yes — a name change or a move between segments changes it |
| Scrip code | The BSE, as a six-digit number | The same security in the BSE’s own system | Rarely |
| ISIN | India’s national numbering agency — NSDL for company securities, the RBI for government securities | The security itself, wherever it trades | Rarely — but certain corporate events create a new one |
There are two shops called Sharma Electricals in the same lane. The postman finds the right one by house number, the electricity board by connection number, and the tax department by PAN. The painted board on the front is the least reliable way to tell them apart, and it is also the only one anybody reads.
The trading symbol is the painted board. The ISIN is the PAN — dull, unmemorable, and the thing every institution behind the transaction is actually using. When something goes wrong with a holding, the ISIN is what you quote.
Face value, and the confusion it causes
The face value is the nominal value assigned to a share in the company’s own capital accounts — commonly ₹10, ₹5, ₹2 or ₹1 in India. It is fixed when the shares are created and changed only by a split or a consolidation. It is a bookkeeping figure. It tells you nothing whatsoever about what the share is worth.
- Declaring dividends, which companies announce as a percentage of face value, not of the market price.
- Stock splits, which work by dividing the face value — a ₹10 face value share split into five becomes five ₹2 shares.
- The company’s share capital line in the balance sheet, which is face value multiplied by the number of shares.
- Whether the share is cheap or expensive.
- How large the company is — that is market capitalisation.
- Any floor under the price. A share with a ₹10 face value can and does trade below ₹10.
- How much dividend you will actually receive as a percentage of what you paid.
The series, and what it permits
Next to the symbol, the exchange marks each security with a category that decides how it may be traded. On the NSE this is a series; on the BSE the same job is done by a group letter. This is not decoration. It is the difference between a security you can buy and sell within the day and one where every trade must be settled by delivery.
| Marking | What it means | What changes for you |
|---|---|---|
| EQ (NSE) | Ordinary rolling settlement — the normal state for most listed equity | Intraday buying and selling permitted, usual price band, ordinary margins |
| BE (NSE) / T group (BSE) | Trade-to-trade: every trade must be settled by delivery | No squaring off within the day. A mistaken buy must be paid for in full and sold the next day |
| The SME series | The security is listed on the SME platform, not the main board | A minimum trading lot rather than one share, and far thinner liquidity |
| Other letters | Partly paid shares, securities under specific restrictions, and companies that have failed listing requirements | Each carries its own restriction. The exchange publishes the full list of series and groups free |
One share is a valid order
In the ordinary cash market the minimum quantity is one share. There is no lot, no minimum ticket size, and no rule that stops you buying a single share of anything on the main board. Lot size — a fixed multiple you must trade in — belongs to two other places: derivatives, where every contract covers a set number of shares, and the SME platform, where the minimum lot is deliberately large to keep small investors out of an illiquid segment. If your app is talking about lots, you have left the ordinary cash market, and it is worth knowing that before rather than after.
The same share on two exchanges
A company listed on both exchanges has one ISIN and two order books. In an actively traded security the two prices sit within paise of each other, because anyone can buy on the cheaper venue and sell on the dearer one; in a thinly traded one the gap can be wider and stay there, simply because nobody is bothering to close it. Once shares are delivered into your demat account they are simply that ISIN, so you may sell them on either exchange regardless of where you bought them. An intraday position is different: it has to be closed on the exchange where it was opened, because the two order books are separate and nothing has been delivered yet.
- 1Read the full name, not the first three letters
Indian markets contain several unrelated companies sharing a first word, and a handful of near-identical names belonging to entirely different groups. The search box sorts by relevance, not by which one you meant.
- 2Match the ISIN once
The company publishes its ISIN in its annual report and on its investor relations page, and both exchanges show it on the security’s own page. Checking it once, the first time you buy a company, settles the question permanently.
- 3Check the series or group
EQ on the NSE, or the equivalent ordinary group on the BSE, means normal trading. Anything else is a restriction you should understand before you own the security rather than after.
- 4Notice the special lines
Partly paid shares, rights entitlements and shares with differential voting rights all trade under their own symbols and their own ISINs, usually at a discount, and they are not the ordinary share. So do SME listings, which look like any other row in a search result.
A company with a face value of ₹1 per share declares a 400% dividend. The share trades at ₹600. What do you receive per share, and what is that as a return on your purchase?
Mohalle mein teen "Sharma Electricals" hain. Postman ghar ke number se dhoondhta hai, bijli wala connection number se, aur bank PAN se. Share ke saath bhi wahi hai — naam aur symbol sirf board hai, asli pehchaan ISIN hai. Aur face value? Woh sirf kaagzi number hai — "300% dividend" ka matlab ₹2 face value pe ₹6, aapke ₹1,200 pe nahi.
- Company name, trading symbol, BSE scrip code and ISIN are four different identifiers for one security.
- The ISIN is what the depository and settlement actually use — quote it when anything goes wrong.
- Face value is a bookkeeping figure. Dividend percentages are measured against it, not against your price.
- The series or group decides whether you may trade intraday at all; check it before buying.
- The cash market minimum is one share. Lots belong to derivatives and to the SME platform.
Mark it done to track your progress through the curriculum.
Common questions
Short, direct answers to what people ask about this topic.