What Is Authorized, Issued And Subscribed Capital?

Authorized or Registered Capital: it is the capital, which is registered with the registrar of the company. It is the highest limit of which a company can do its business however, the company can operate its business with the less amount than the authorized capital which is divided into a number of shares of certain value each. For instance, a company may have an authorized capital 100 million rupees divided into 10 million shares of Rs.10 each Company generally get their capital authorized much above their current needs.

Issued capital:  an mentioned above the company does not usually  operate  its business  with the amount  as high as authorized capital because it is above it current requirement . Hence the company do not issue  the whole of authorized  capital. The part issued for  public subscription is referred to issued capital.

To continue  the above example, out of Rs.100 million authorized  capital a company may issue Rs.50 million divided into 5  million shares of Rs.10 each  for public  subscription. This capital  is known as issued capital.
Subscribed capital: it is the amount of capital agreed by the public to contribute in response to the call of company. If the company enjoys a good market reputation the capital may be oversubscribed in this case over subscription will have to be refunded.