What is a shareholder

A shareholder is a business or person who owns shares in a company.

All companies have a shareholder. Even the owner of a One person company, is considered a shareholder. The number of shareholders will vary depending on the business form registered in India. Companies in India need to comply with the regulations of Companies Act. 

Minimum number of shareholders in India 

One shareholder — One person company 

Two shareholders — Private limited company 

Seven shareholders — Public limited company

Two types of shareholders

In India, shareholders are divided into two main categories; general shareholders and minority shareholders. These types of shareholders have different rights. 

For example, a general shareholder can vote in general meetings, appoint companies directors or request companies’ financial statements. A minority shareholder possesses less than 51 percent of the shares.  The purpose of minority shareholders is to provide capital to a company in exchange for ownership. 

Shareholder register

All companies are required to have a shareholder register. The register is a list of current and previous owners of the companies. Some companies have one or two shareholders, and therefor there will be no need to update the list. However, larger companies who sell shares will have to update the list frequently. Maybe as frequent as daily. Reed more about shareholder register here.