A share warrant is an agreement between a person and a corporation that entitles the person to trade company shares at a certain price on or before a specified date. They are frequently given out by businesses as a means of fund raising, employee benefits, recruitment, or retention strategies. A key distinction between a share and a warrant is that a warrant holder has the right to purchase or sell shares within a predetermined timeframe while a shareholder receives partial ownership in the company.

Before the expiration date, warrant holders have the option to exercise their rights. Only when the exercise price is lower than the cost of a common share would a warrant holder choose to exercise the right. For instance, say the stock price is 165 per share right now, but you think it will shortly surpass 200 per share.

So, you spend Rs.200 on a warrant that entitles you to purchase 100 shares of XYZ Limited for Rs.200 each. The cost of the warrant is 10, bringing your overall expenditure to Rs.1000. Let's say the stock price increased to 280 per share after four years. If you exercise the warrant in this case, you can acquire 100 shares for 20,000 instead of 28,000, which is a benefit.

You might immediately receive a discount of 8,000, and your net gain would be 7,000 after deducting the warrant price of 1,000. The corporation will issue you fresh shares once you've exercised the warrant.

Types Of Share Warrants:

1. European warrants:
   These are the warrants which you can exercise only on a pre-decided expiration date.
    
2. American warrants:
   These are the ones you can exercise on or before a pre-decided expiration date.
    
3. Call warrants:
   Call warrants are those warrants that provide you the option to purchase shares of a company at a set price within a predetermined window of time. When the company's stock price rises above the strike price (the price at which the warrants grant you the right to purchase that stock), it would be advantageous to exercise the call options. For example, you bought call warrants with a 125-strike price. If warrants are exercised, you can obtain shares at a reduced price if the underlying stock price rises over 125. However, it would be pointless to exercise the warrant if the stock price was 125 or less.
    
4. Put warrants:
   Put warrants are those warrants that allow you to sell a company's shares at a set price within a predetermined window of time. Put warrants are issued by businesses to draw higher investments and lower investor risk. In this way, even newer or smaller businesses could be able to draw in investors. When the company's stock price falls below the strike price (the price at which the warrants grant you the right to sell that stock), it would be advantageous to exercise the put options. For example, you bought put warrants with a 120-strike price. If you use warrants to sell the shares, you can make money if the underlying stock's price is below 120. But if the stock price is 120 or above, using the warrant might not be a good idea.

Taxes On Share Warrants:
The difference between the strike price and the share's market price at the time the warrant is exercised is treated as ordinary income for tax purposes. The difference between the strike price and the selling price of these shares, which will be your capital gain when you sell them, will be taxed depending on how long you held the shares—long-term capital gain tax if held for more than 12 months, short-term capital gain tax if held for less than 12 months.

Insights Into Share Warrants:
Share warrants may give you the opportunity to buy or sell shares in the future at a higher price than the current stock price. This advantage could, however, come at the cost of losing the minimal money you make to buy warrants. Companies may profit in both scenarios since they can issue equity warrants or additional shares to raise capital or broaden their equity base.

Whether stock warrants prove to be a wise investment depends on how the stock price performs. If you exercise call warrants at a time when the company's stock price is higher than the strike price, you might profit. When you exercise put warrants when the stock price falls below the strike price, you will profit. One of the drawbacks of warrants is that they do not pay dividends to the investors.

SEBI DIP Guidelines and ICDR Regulations:

SEBI Guidelines
The share warrants can be issued at the pricing of average of highest and lowest weekly prices preceding the 6 months tenure to the relevant date OR average of the highest and lowest weekly price preceding the 6 months tenure to the relevant date. An amount equivalent to at least 25% of the value must be paid up-front during the time of allotment and the balance can be paid at the time of conversion.

ICDR Regulations:
The tenure of share warrants issued shall not exceed a period of 18 months from the date of allotment in their public offering. A single security can only have one warrant attached with it. The formula for calculation of share warrants must be disclosed upfront and at least 25% of the amount must be paid. If the warrant holder doesn't convert any of his warrants into shares, then after 3 months period of payment of the consideration the amount paid by the issuer can be forfeited.

Conclusion:
Share warrants are still an underutilized and little-known source of investment finance for investors. However, some of the benefits of warrants include their inherent leverage, significant upside potential, longer time horizons, giving investors a larger window of opportunity to see their bets succeed, and the ability for the issuing company to lower the strike price while paying dividends. Share warrants therefore have the potential to become the go-to investment for everyone looking for a buy-in for their money, even though they currently appear to be harsh for some investors.