Rs 200 To Rs 1,80,000: Investor Discovers Old Share Certificate 'Compounding For 30 Years'
The X user’s post caught the attention of many on social media, with several others sharing their own experience of finding old share certificates.
Discovering an old piece of paper, especially a share certificate, could turn out to be a gold mine. A minuscule investment decades ago by your father or grandfather could have now become a substantial amount due to the power of compounding.
Stories of people discovering old share certificates often appear on social media and yet another similar post has gone viral on X, highlighting how forgotten investments could be financially rewarding.
An X user, named The Chartians, shared that one of his relatives stumbled upon an old share certificate of Burroughs Wellcome India Ltd. shares bought in 1993.
Surprisingly, the value of 20 shares bought three decades ago now stands at Rs 1,80,000.
“You find a piece of paper from 1993 worth Rs 1,80,000. A relative just found this 20-share certificate for Burroughs Wellcome. Turns out it merged into #GSK, issued bonuses...and sat there silently compounding for 30 years,” the X user wrote.
Shares of Burroughs Wellcome India Ltd. were bought at Rs 10 each. As per the share certificate, the stock was bought on Nov. 22, 1993, in Delhi. Over the years, the minuscule investment of Rs 200 has surged to Rs 1.8 lakh, marking a staggering 89,900% rise in nearly 33 years.
“Valuation then: Rs 200 (Face Value), valuation now: Rs 1,80,000 (with dividends) -According to GPT. The ultimate HODL is just forgetting you own it,” the X user added.
The X user’s post caught the attention of many on social media, with several others sharing their own experience of finding old share certificates.
Many users also highlighted the difficulty they face in converting the physical shares into the Demat form due to the cumbersome process.
“My dad bought a small qty of Infosys in 94-95. He doesn't even remember, and one day, we found the physical share copy in the old document file. Goldmine #reallifestory,” wrote a user.
“Even my father invested in Golden Forest investment in the year around 2000, and no information till date,” read a comment.
A user shared difficulties in managing investments made by his father in ACC, Ambuja and other stocks a few years ago.
“I've got a few like these... My dad bought years ago.. Still in his name.. He passed away 25yrs ago. And I've got no clue what to do with them.. Have acc and ambuja I think.. And a few other companies..” red another comment,” the user wrote.
“Converting Physical Shares to Demat is very cumbersome and impractical. I've almost given up. @SEBI_India, @SEBI_updates should look into it and try to simplify the process,” wrote a user, urging the capital market regulator to make the conversion of physical shares into Demat format simpler.
Earlier in October, in a similar incident, a man in Gujarat discovered a share certificate from his grandfather’s house. During a normal cleaning day at his late grandfather’s house in Una, the man found old share certificates worth around Rs 2.5 crore, according to an NDTV report.
