Pick your examples — eight questions, about a minute. Nothing here is locked behind it.
Two points lower
A headline says the promoters of a company have cut their stake. The table on the screen shows their holding two points lower than last quarter. Before reading anything into it, it helps to know what the table is, who files it, and what else can move that number.
What a shareholding pattern is
A listed company files its shareholding pattern with the stock exchanges every quarter, within 21 days of the quarter's end, under Regulation 31 of SEBI's Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) Regulations, 2015 [1]. It files one more within ten days of a capital restructuring that changes its paid-up share capital by more than two per cent [1]. A company listed on an SME exchange files the pattern half-yearly instead of quarterly [1].
The desk keeps the two kinds apart. A pattern dated to a capital change rather than to a quarter's end is shown for what it is and left out of every quarterly trend.
Promoters, the public, and the rest
The table splits the shares into the promoter and promoter group, as the company names them, and the public, which covers most other holders: foreign portfolio investors, mutual funds, insurers and other institutions, companies, and individuals [2]. A third category, non-promoter non-public, sits outside both, such as shares held by an employee benefit trust, and the desk shows it on its own line.
Sub-categories of the public, such as mutual funds or small individual holders, are part of the public figure, not additions to it; adding them to the public total counts the same shares twice. The public figure also has a floor. Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 requires a listed company, other than a public sector company, which has rules of its own, to keep at least twenty-five per cent of its shares with the public, with time allowed to reach or restore it [3].
Names at one per cent or more
Beyond the category totals, the pattern names the public shareholders who own one per cent or more of the company [2]. That list is where a named fund, or an individual with a large stake, appears. Connections reads the named holders in this pattern, promoter-group entities and public shareholders at one per cent or more, when it draws a line for a holder two companies share.
The threshold cuts both ways. A holder whose stake slips below one per cent disappears from the names without having parted with a single share.
Pledged shares
Promoters sometimes pledge their shares as security for a loan. SEBI's takeover regulations require a promoter to disclose shares it has encumbered, a word that covers a pledge, a lien, a non-disposal undertaking and similar arrangements, within seven working days of creating, invoking or releasing the encumbrance [4]. That duty does not apply where the encumbrance is undertaken in a depository [4].
A pledge figure is always a percentage of something: of the promoter's own holding, or of the company's total shares. The two give very different numbers for the same pledge, so the desk states which base each figure uses.
What a change can and cannot tell you
A promoter holding that falls two points between quarters may mean the promoter sold shares. It may also mean the company issued new shares to others while the promoter's own count stayed the same, or that a lender invoked a pledge and took the shares. The pattern records the result, not the reason.
It is also a snapshot at the quarter's end. It says nothing about what happened between two quarter ends, and it can arrive up to three weeks after the date it describes.
Worked example — ten points lower, no shares sold
Made-up round numbers for one fictional company across a quarter in which it issued new shares to institutions.
The Analyst
Before: 10,00,000 shares, promoters 5,00,000, a 50% holding. The company issues 2,50,000 new shares to institutions: 12,50,000 in all. Promoter holding: 5,00,000 ÷ 12,50,000 = 40%, ten points lower, with no promoter share sold. A pledge of 1,00,000 promoter shares reads as 20% of the promoter holding or 8% of all shares, depending on the base.
| What | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shares before the issue | 10,00,000 | 2026-06-01 | illustrative — a made-up round number |
| Promoter shares, before and after | 5,00,000 | 2026-06-01 | illustrative — a made-up round number |
| Promoter holding before | 50% | 2026-06-01 | arithmetic: 5,00,000 ÷ 10,00,000 |
| New shares issued to institutions | 2,50,000 | 2026-06-01 | illustrative — a made-up round number |
| Shares after the issue | 12,50,000 | 2026-06-01 | arithmetic: 10,00,000 + 2,50,000 |
| Promoter holding after | 40% | 2026-06-01 | arithmetic: 5,00,000 ÷ 12,50,000 |
| Promoter shares pledged | 1,00,000 | 2026-06-01 | illustrative — a made-up round number |
| Pledge as a share of the promoter holding | 20% | 2026-06-01 | arithmetic: 1,00,000 ÷ 5,00,000 |
| Pledge as a share of all shares | 8% | 2026-06-01 | arithmetic: 1,00,000 ÷ 12,50,000 |
As of 2026-06-01 · illustrative — made-up round numbers, not a quoted contract · at least three months old by design
Presets change the example and the wording, not the facts.
What to take away
A listed company files its shareholding pattern every quarter, within 21 days of the quarter's end, and again within ten days of a capital restructuring that moves its paid-up capital by more than two per cent [1]. The table separates the promoter group from the public and names public holders at one per cent or more [2], and, outside public sector companies, the public's share has a floor of twenty-five per cent [3]. Promoters disclose pledges and other encumbrances within seven working days, except those undertaken in a depository [4]. A percentage can move because of its numerator or its denominator, so read the share counts, the base and the kind of filing before looking for a reason.
References
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 [Last amended on July 14, 2026] — Securities and Exchange Board of India (2026-07-14)
- Master Circular for compliance with the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 by listed entities — Securities and Exchange Board of India
- Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 — Securities and Exchange Board of India
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 [Last amended on December 5, 2025] — Securities and Exchange Board of India (2025-12-05)