Issued share capital is that part of authorized share capital which has been issued by the company for subscription. Generally a company does not issue all of its authorized capital and keeps a part of it reserved. This is done so that the company can raise funds in future also by issuing the remaining part of its authorized capital. The part which has not been issued by the company is known as unissued share capital.
Example of issued share capital:
Lets assume that ABC ltd. got registered with a capital of INR 1,00,00,000 (1 crore) divided into shares of INR 10 each. The management decides to issue 8,00,000 (8 lakh) shares to raise a fund of INR 80,00,000 (80 lakh) but the investors subscribe for only 6,00,000 (6 lakh) shares. Now the company calls for only INR 4 per share out of INR 10 (Nominal value of shares) and it gets full amount for only 5,50,000 (5 lakh 50 thousand) shares.
Then
Issued share capital = Rs 80 lakh (8 lakh shares of Rs 10 each)
From the figures given above it is clear that the amount of issued share capital for company ABC Ltd is Rs 80 lakh.