Upcoming Dividend Calendar

You must buy the stock at least a day before the ex-date (ex-dividend date) to be eligible to receive the dividend. It is also important that you don't sell it before the ex-date.

See also - What is the ex-date and what is the record date? How are the two related?

You can sell the stock on the ex-date (ex-dividend date) and still be eligible to receive the dividend. It's important to note that you need to have bought the stock at least a day before the ex-date.

See also - What is the ex-date and what is the record date? How are the two related?

Dividend Stripping traditionally used to be a method to deliberately convert capital gains into dividend income so as to avoid or lower tax implications. But in the recent years this has become unfeasible/unprofitable in India thanks to abolishment of DDT and introduction of Section 94 (7) of the Income-Tax Act which focuses on tackling this very concern.

Read more about it here - The Concept of Dividend Stripping in India - by cleartax, Understanding the concept of dividend stripping in India - by Tax2win

The ex-date or the ex-dividend date is the first day a stock trades with the stock price reduced by the amount of the dividend amount. It is the date before which you need to have bought the stock to be eligible to receive the dividend in your linked bank account.

The record date is the day when a company checks its list of shareholders to determine the shareholders eligible to receive the dividend. This is linked to the ex-date depending on the trade settlement cycle.

While traditionally the record date came a day or two after the ex-date, as Indian Stock Market moves from a T+2 day settlement cycle to T+1 and eventually T+0 phase wise, the ex-date and record date may even fall on the same day. For this very reason, the pFinTools Dividend Calendar shows only the ex-date to avoid any confusion. The record date anyways is for the company's internal bookkeeping purposes and doesn't concern the investor all that much practically.

Read more about the Indian Stock Market's Transition from T+2 to T+0 settlement cycle here - T+0 Settlement: A new dawn in Indian stock market - by The Economic Times

Please note that the actual dividend payment date is independent of the ex-date or the record date and is purely at the discretion of the dividend issuing company.

When a company pays a dividend, the stock price of the company is reduced by the amount of the dividend being paid per share so that the declaration of profit does not affect one's net gains from an investment. So while dividend proves to be a sure shot way of profit booking by transferring a part of your investment to your bank account, it does not really benefit the investor directly by itself (unlike a buyback); instead in many cases it can have a negative impact on your tax liabilities - see How are dividends taxed?