Delivery volume is the number of shares traded in a session that are actually delivered to buyers at settlement. The term is used mainly in India, where the stock exchanges NSE and BSE, regulated by SEBI, publish it daily for each listed share. It is the counterpart of intraday volume, which comes from positions opened and closed on the same day through intraday trading and so never results in a transfer of shares.
The figure is usually read as a percentage of total trading volume. If 1,000,000 shares of a company trade in a day and 400,000 are marked for delivery, the delivery percentage is 40 percent. A high percentage suggests that buyers intend to hold the shares, which are kept in electronic form following the dematerialisation of securities. A low percentage suggests the day's activity was mostly short-term speculation. The measure is only a rough guide.