(a) A share is a right to a specified amount of the share capital of a company, carrying with it certain rights and liabilities while the company is a going concern and in its winding up. (Halsbury’s Laws of England)(b) A share is the interest of a shareholder in the company measured by a sum of money, for the purposes of liability in the first place, and of interest in the second, but also consisting of a series of mutual covenants entered into by all the shareholders inter se. [Borland’s Trustee v. Steel Bros., (1901)].

Preference Shares:

Preference shares are those which have a preferential right to the payment of dividend during the life-time of the company and a preferential right to the return of capital when the company is wound up.

Equity Shares

An equity share, commonly referred to as an ordinary share also represents the form of fractional or part ownership in which a shareholder, as a fractional owner, undertakes the maximum entrepreneurial risk associated with a business venture. The holders of such shares are members of the company and have voting rights. The holders of such shares are members of the company and have voting rights. A company may issue such shares with differential rights as to voting, payment of dividend, etc.

Difference Between Equity Shares and Preference Shares

Equity Share Capital and Preference Share Capital

‘‘equity share capital’’, with reference to any company limited by shares, means all share capital which is not preference share capital; ‘‘preference share capital’’, with reference to any company limited by shares, means that part of the issued share capital of the company which carries or would carry a preferential right with respect to –

(a) payment of dividend, either as a fixed amount or an amount calculated at a fixed rate, which may either be free of or subject to income-tax; and(b) repayment, in the case of a winding up or repayment of capital, of the amount of the share capital paid-up or deemed to have been paid-up, whether or not, there is a preferential right to the payment of any fixed premium or premium on any fixed scale, specified in the memorandum or articles of the company;

A preference share has a preference in regard to payment of fixed amount of dividend or fixed rate of dividend and preferential right of the repayment of capital in the event of winding up of company. Other Relevant Articles

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