How to Track Rights Issue Record Dates in India

A rights issue record date is the cut-off that decides which shareholders receive rights entitlements. It becomes public through a specific filing, made under Regulation 42 of the SEBI LODR Regulations, 2015, at least three clear working days before the date itself. Tracking rights issue record dates reliably means watching that filing rather than waiting for news coverage, because three working days is a short runway.

What the Regulation 42 intimation contains

Regulation 42(1) requires a listed entity to intimate the record date to all stock exchanges where it is listed, and to those where derivatives on its stock are available or where its stock forms part of an index on which derivatives are available. Six purposes are listed:

1. Declaration of dividend
2. Issue of right or bonus shares
3. Issue of shares for conversion of debentures or any other convertible security
4. Shares arising out of rights attached to debentures or any other convertible security
5. Corporate actions such as mergers, demergers and splits
6. Any other purpose specified by the stock exchanges

Sub-regulation (2) sets the notice period and requires the intimation to specify the purpose. So a usable record-date feed carries two fields: the date, and what the date is for. A record date with no stated purpose is an incomplete filing.

What the 2024 amendment changed, and why it matters for rights issues

The SEBI LODR (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2024, effective 13 December 2024, made three changes to Regulation 42 that together compress the calendar.

The middle row is the one that catches people. Before the amendment, the longer-notice proviso was written for rights issues. The amendment substituted schemes of arrangement in its place. Rights issues therefore now sit under the general rule, and the notice period for a rights issue record date is three clear working days, not seven and not three-under-a-proviso.

The gap rule also moved a long way. Five working days between two record dates, down from thirty days, means a company can run a dividend record date and a rights record date within the same fortnight.

The filing sequence to watch

Tracking a rights issue record date well means picking up the chain earlier than the record date filing itself.

1. Board meeting intimation. Fund raising by way of a rights issue is a Regulation 29(1)(d) proposal, so it must be intimated at least two clear working days before the board meets, with the meeting date stated. See how to read a board meeting intimation.
2. Outcome of the board meeting. Disclosed within thirty minutes of the meeting closing under Regulation 30(6)(i). This is where the issue is actually approved.
3. Record date intimation under Regulation 42. At least three clear working days ahead, specifying the purpose. This is the date that decides eligibility.
4. Rights entitlements credited and traded. Entitlements are credited to eligible demat accounts and trade separately for a defined window. See what is a rights entitlement.
5. Post-issue shareholding. The next quarterly shareholding pattern shows who took up their entitlement and who let it lapse, which is where the dilution actually becomes visible.

Two traps in record date data

A record date can be revised. The intimation is a scheduled date, and companies file revisions. Always read the latest filing for the security rather than the first match, the same discipline a results calendar needs.

Ex-date and record date are different facts. The record date is the company's cut-off filed under Regulation 42. The ex-date is set by the exchange for trading purposes. Treating them as interchangeable is the most common error in record-date datasets, and it puts eligibility a day out.

Flock reports these exchange filings with the filing date attached and a link back to the source document, alongside the corporate results calendar and the rest of the disclosure record. Whether to act on any corporate action is your own call. Not investment advice.