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Investment Fundamentals

What's short-selling of shares? (ET 13th Sept 2007) What is short-selling? Short-selling, in the context of the stock market, is the practice where an investor sells shares that he does not own at the time of selling them. He sells them in the hope that the price of those shares will decline, and he will profit by buying back those shares at a lower price. In India, there is no prohibition on short-selling by retail investors. Institutional investors —domestic mutual funds and foreign institutional investors registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), banks and insurance companies — are prohibited from short-selling and are mandatorily required to settle on the basis of deliveries of securities owned and held by them. How is short-selling beneficial? Short-selling is considered an essential feature of the securities market not just for providing liquidity, but also for helping price corrections in over valued stocks. Supporters of short-selling claim its abs...