What does fully paid up shares mean?
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Paid-up capital represents money that is not borrowed. A company that is fully paid-up has sold all available shares and thus cannot increase its capital unless it borrows money by taking on debt. A company could, however, receive authorization to sell more shares.
A partly paid share is a share in a company, which has only partially been paid compared to the full issue price. This means that investors like you and I can buy these shares by not paying the full issue price. The balance amount for partly paid shares can be made in instalments when calls are made by the company.
Can fully paid up shares be forfeited?
The main reason for forfeiture is where a call payment has been requested by the company on unpaid (or partly paid) shares and the shareholder has failed to pay the amount due.
The partly paid shares are tradable like any other security. Investors who buy the partly paid shares will have to pay the balance amount as per the payment schedule and it will eventually get merged into fully paid shares post the payment of all the money.
Partly paid shares are issued by a company when the shareholder who holds those shares has not paid the full issue price of those shares. For example, a company issues its shares at $1.00 per share.
Can partly paid up shares be transferred?
1. Are Partly paid shares freely transferrable in the market? Yes, Even partly paid shares are transferrable as per Section 56 of the CA, 2013 & Rule 11 of Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014 [iii] and they can be listed too.
Once shares have been forfeited, generally, the shareholder loses all rights under them and if the share was partly paid, has no right to recover the amount already paid to the company. The forfeited shares are then deemed to be owned by the company from the date agreed by the directors.