The Lessors
1. Specialised Leasing Companies'
2. Banks and Bank Subsidiaries
3. Specialised Financial Institutions
4. Manufacturer Lessors
The Lessees
1. Public Sector Undertakings
2. Mid Market Companies
3. Consumers
4. Government Departments and Authorities.

GDRs have following features:
1. A bank certificate issued in more than one country for shares in a foreign company. The shares are held by a foreign branch of an international bank. The shares trade as domestic shares, but are offered for sale globally through the various bank branches.
2. A financial instrument used by private markets to raise capital denominated in either U.S. dollars or Euros.
3. Holders of GDR are eligible only for capital appreciation and dividend but no voting rights.
4. These instruments are called EDRs when private markets are attempting to obtain Euros.
5. It is a negotiable instrument and can be traded freely like any other security.
6. A holder of GDR can convert it into any other security at any time.

Preference shares have a fixed percentage dividend before any dividend is paid to the ordinary shareholders. As with ordinary shares a preference dividend can only be paid if sufficient distributable profits are available, although with 'cumulative' preference shares the right to an unpaid dividend is carried forward to later years. The arrears of dividend on cumulative preference shares must be paid before any dividend is paid to the ordinary shareholders. From the company's point of view, preference shares are advantageous in the following ways:
1. Dividends do not have to be paid in a year in which profits are poor, while this is not the case with interest payments on long term debt (loans or debentures).
2. Since they do not carry voting rights, preference shares avoid diluting the control of existing shareholders while an issue of equity shares would not.
3. Unless they are redeemable, issuing preference shares will lower the company's gearing. Redeemable preference shares are normally treated as debt when gearing is calculated.
4. The issue of preference shares does not restrict the company's borrowing power, at least in the sense that preference share capital is not secured against assets in the business.
5. The non-payment of dividend does not give the preference shareholders the right to appoint a receiver, a right which is normally given to debenture holders.
However, dividend payments on preference shares are not tax deductible in the way that interest payments on debt are. Furthermore, for preference shares to be attractive to investors, the level of payment needs to be higher than for interest on debt to compensate for the additional risks.
For the investor, preference shares are less attractive than loan stock because:
1. They cannot be secured on the company's assets.
2. The dividend yield traditionally offered on preference dividends has been too low to provide an attractive investment compared with the interest yields on loan stock in view of the additional risk involved.

Global Depository Receipts (GDRs): GDR is an instrument issued by a company to raise funds in some foreign currency and is listed and traded on a foreign stock exchange.
American Depository Receipts (ADRs): The depository receipts issued by the company in the USA are called American Depository Receipts. GDR and ADR are similar to each other except:
(a) GDR can be issued to anyone but ADRs can be issued only to an American citizen.
(b) GDR can be listed and traded in stock exchange of any country but ADRs can be listed and traded only in the stock exchange of USA.

Given below are three financial institutions along with their objectives:
(a) Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI): It came into existence in 1955 as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 1956.
Objective: ICICI assists the expansion and modernisation of industrial enterprises exclusively in the private sector. The corporation has also encouraged the participation of foreign capital in the country.
(b) Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI): It came into existence in 1964 under the Industrial Development Bank of India Act, 1964. Objective: Its objective was to coordinate the activities of other financial institutions including commercial banks. The bank performed three types of functions namely, assistance to other financial institutions, direct assistance to industrial concerns and promotion and coordination of financial technique service.
(c) Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC): It came into existence in 1956 under the LIC Act 1956 after nationalising 245 existing insurance companies.
Objective: It mobilises the community saving in the form of insurance premia and makes it available to industrial concerns. Both public as well as private, in the form of direct loan and underwriting of an subscription to shares and debentures.

Different types of preference shares are discussed below:
(a) Cumulative and Non-cumulative: The preference shares which enjoy the right to accumulate unpaid dividends in future years if it is not paid during a year are termed as cumulative preference shares. On the contrary, a non-cumulative preference share is one in which dividend is not accumulated if it is not paid in the particular year.
(b) Participating and Non-participating Preference Shares: Those preference shares which have a right to participate in further surplus of a company's shares which after dividend at certain rate has been paid on equity shares are called participating preference shares. Those preference shares which do not have a right to participate in further surplus of a company's shares which after dividend at certain rate has been paid on equity shares are called non-participating preference shares.
(c) Convertible and Non-convertible Preference Shares: Those preference shares which can be converted into equity shares within a specified period of time are called convertible preference shares. On the contrary, preference shares which cannot be converted into equity shares within a specified period of time are called nonconvertible preference shares.

Commercial Paper:
1. Commercial paper is an unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by a corporation, typically for the financing of accounts receivable, inventories and meeting short-term liabilities.
2. Maturities on commercial paper can range up to 365 days. The debt is usually issued at a discount, reflecting prevailing market interest rates.
3. Commercial paper is not usually backed by any form of collateral, so only firms with high-quality debt ratings will easily find buyers without having to offer a substantial discount (higher cost) for the debt issue.
Advantages and Limitations of Commercial Paper
Advantages:
1. For the most part, commercial paper is a very safe investment because the financial situation of a company can easily be predicted over a few months.
2. Typically only companies with high credit ratings and credit worthiness issue commercial paper. Hence the companies issuing them enjoy (a) the prestige associated with such issuance and (b) the ability to issue large quantum without much hassles like other types of financing which requires restrictions from regulatory bodies.
3. Interest rate is generally lower compared to others like bank loans and other types of short term financing
Disadvantage:
1. It does not have any flexibility with regard to repayments.

Nature of business and speed of sales turnover.

Equity shareholders get return only when profits is left after paying interest on debentures and fixed return on preference shares. Therefore, it is called risk capital as it bears maximum risk.

They are given some preferences because they are not given the voting rights.

Discounting of bills of exchange means that the bank pays the person beforehand at less than face value and receives the payment on maturity equivalent to maturity value. The difference between the amount paid and face value is the return for discounting bills of exchange.

WIPRO and ICICI

It is not suitable for those investors who want to get a fixed return without failure.

Global Depository Receipts and American Depository Receipts