14 May 2015
It is a form of depository receipt or certificate created by the Overseas Depository Bank outside India denominated in dollar and issued to non-resident investors against the issue of ordinary shares or foreign currency convertible bonds of issuing company. In simple words, it is basically a negotiable instrument denominated in US dollars. It is traded in Europe or the US or both. After getting approval from the Ministry of Finance and completing other formalities, a company issues rupee denominated shares in the name of depository which delivers these shares to its local custodian bank, the holder on records, thus depository. The depository then issues dollar denominated depository receipts (or GDR) against the shares registered with it. Generally one GDR is equivalent to one or more (rupee denominated) shares. It is traded like any other dollar denominated security in the foreign markets, in addition to equity financing (as GDR represents equity) over debt financing.