Next: Investing
Mutual funds, decoded
Pooled money, professionally run, SEBI-regulated. What NAV means, what a fund charges without ever sending you a bill, and how the plan you pick compounds.
21 min
beginner
What a share actually is
A share is a slice of a real business, not a lottery ticket. Where shares come from, how they reach your demat account, and what every trade quietly costs.
3 lessons · about 19 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
A slice of a business
One share makes you a part-owner of a real company — its profits, its votes and its problems — and the price on your screen is just two people agreeing.
6 min
Where shares trade, and where yours live
Primary market versus secondary, why the Sensex and the Nifty are thermometers rather than the room, and the T+1 journey a share takes into your demat account.
7 min
What a trade actually costs
Brokerage, STT, GST and stamp duty are small slices taken out of every single trade, which is why the number on your screen is not the number you keep.
6 min
Check yourself
4 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
Tools for this
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- SEBI investor education — Securities and Exchange Board of India · checked 2026-08-11
- Income Tax Department — securities transaction tax and capital gains — Income Tax Department · checked 2026-08-11