What does record date and ex-date mean?
Record date refers to the date on which a company verifies its records to determine the eligible shareholders for corporate action. Shareholders who hold shares in their demat accounts on the record date are eligible for corporate actions like entitlement of rights shares, bonus shares, stock splits, dividends, etc.
Ex-Date, on the other hand, is the date on which a stock begins trading without the advantage of the corporate action, i.e., ex-benefit. The ex-date and the record date for all corporate actions are the same since all 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.