All business and corporate announcements should use XBRL, says NSE

For all significant and sensitive business announcements issued by listed firms, The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has advocated the usage of the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format. The necessity of XBRL reporting was also emphasised by SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch at her news conference following the board meeting last month. She emphasised that this would facilitate surveillance and allow businesses to be held responsible for the data they offer.

Previously, businesses could submit their financial data using a simple PDF (portable document format). According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) listing regulations, listed businesses are now required to adopt the above format when reporting their quarterly results on bourses.

Investors cannot rapidly search for particular and time-sensitive information while using PDF, which is a problem. XBRL is a searchable format that collects all company-related information in one location. It is a reporting format that is required worldwide. Stock Exchanges have been working to convert filings submitted under SEBI Regulations from PDF to XBRL over time. Listed firms provide different disclosures in accordance with LODR Regulation 30 that include the information requested under the relevant Regulations and Circulars. It was decided to use XBRL for all business filings with the goal of standardising securities market data.

Since stock exchanges have adopted XBRL-based compliance filing mechanisms with identical and homogenous compliance data structures, the adoption of this format will ease the compliance burden on listed entities for analysts and investors but also enable an analysis of the data submitted by the listed entities and also enable the regulator to oversee easily given the easy access to data on listed entities.