A stock is a slice of a company
When you buy a stock, you are not buying a lottery ticket or a number on a screen — you are buying a small piece of an actual business. Own one share of Reliance Industries and you own a tiny fraction of its refineries, telecom towers, and retail stores. The company is divided into many equal pieces called shares, and each share is one slice of ownership. Buy more slices and you own more of the company.
Why do companies sell shares?
Building a business costs money — factories, staff, technology. Rather than borrow it all, a company can sell slices of itself to the public and raise money without taking on debt. In return, the people who buy those slices (the shareholders) own part of the company and share in its success. When the company grows and earns more, each slice can become worth more.
Where shares are bought and sold
In India, shares are listed and traded on stock exchanges — mainly the NSE (National Stock Exchange) and the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). A demat account, opened through a broker like Zerodha or Groww, holds your shares electronically, the same way a bank account holds your money. When you place a buy order, the exchange matches you with a seller, and the slice of ownership moves to you.
What makes a share's price move
A share's price reflects what buyers and sellers think the company is worth right now. Good news — rising profits, new contracts, strong growth — makes more people want to own a slice, pushing the price up. Bad news does the opposite. Price is simply the meeting point of everyone's opinion about the company's future, changing second by second during market hours.
Buy a few shares in the simulator above and watch your ownership grow — then test yourself below.