What is ADR and GDR

American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts

Indians are known world over for their regular savings habit. We have imbibed this very healthy habit from our forefathers who practiced it in their own way throughout their life, and lived a safe and satisfactory retired life due to this habit.

In this generation too the same habit is widely prevalent. We invest in traditional savings like Bank Deposits, Mutual Funds, and many such avenues. The latest being, investments in stocks and shares. In the last two decades people investing and trading in stocks and shares of various companies that are listed in most of our stock exchanges that are spread across India, has become a regular means of earning extra income, or a means of creating savings in the near future.

What if the companies whose shares are publicly traded in stock exchanges wishes to expand its fund raising capacities to opportunities to raise funds from people from other countries. This is where ADR and GDR come into picture.

What is ADR

ADR is the full form of American Depository Receipts. This is the recent method adopted by many large and well respected companies from India to raise funds from American Markets.

How ADR Operates

Indian companies have direct access to raise funds from Indian public by way of issuing Shares, Debentures etc. However Indian companies cannot do so, in such a direct manner, when it comes to raising funds from American people. That would entail the Indian companies to adopt US Accounting Norms which is also called as GAAP, maintain accounting practices as per American Financial Year (Which starts in January and ends in December of any particular year), as also follow variety of stringent standards as per American norms. Effectively, it would mean that the Indian company would have to follow two different set of rules simultaneously, one to comply with the laws of Indian Companies Act, and the other to comply with the American Laws.

The method to circumvent the American norms, but still raise funds from American people is available by way of ADR or American Depository Receipts. In this system, the Indian company deposits certain amount of its Indian shares with designated American Banks. The banks, in turn, issues receipts that are equivalent in values (And also based on the intrinsic value the Indian Company’s shares would fetch in the American market) to the Indian Company. These receipts essentially would be in number of receipts. Then these Indian Companies can trade these ADRs or American Depository Receipts with the American public. These ADRs can be purchased and traded freely without any encumbrances in the American Stocks and Shares Market. This way the Indian company is able to enter into the American Stocks and Shares market, and raise funds from the American public.

The role of the American bank which has issued these receipts is very crucial, since it is they who stand guarantee to the issued receipts. Hence they do exhaustive study of the Indian company from all perspectives, and only then issue the ADR to the Indian company.

What is GDR and how it operates

The full form of GDR is Global Depository Receipt. It is not a different financial instrument, as it may sound, from that of ADR. In fact if the Indian Company which has issued GDRs in the American market wishes to further extend it to other developed and advanced countries such as Europe, then they can sell these ADRs to the public of Europe and the same would be named as GDR.

Indian Companies with ADR & GDR

There are quite a lot of successful Indian companies that have now issued ADRs and GDRs. Some such companies are given underneath.

  • Dr. Reddys
  • HDFC Bank
  • ICICI Bank
  • Infosys Technologies
  • MTNL
  • VSNL
  • WIPRO
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