India: XBRL Filing Update

India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs has published a new manual regarding XBRL filing requirements. The program is now in its second year, and the government is expected to add more companies to the list of those required to file in this format. XBRL is a computer language that enables information to become machine-readable, which streamlines the retrieval, collation, tagging and reading processes involved in financial reporting.

According to XBRL.org, the introductions of XBRL tags enables automated processing of business information by computer software, cutting out laborious and costly processes of manual re-entry and comparison. Computers can treat XBRL data "intelligently": they can recognize the information in a XBRL document, select it, analyze it, store it, exchange it with other computers and present it automatically in a variety of ways for users. XBRL greatly increases the speed of handling of financial data, reduces the chance of error and permits automatic checking of information.

Companies can use XBRL to save costs and streamline their processes for collecting and reporting financial information. Consumers of financial data, including investors, analysts, financial institutions and regulators, can receive, find, compare and analyze much more rapidly and efficiently if it is in XBRL format.

XBRL can handle data in different languages and accounting standards. IT can flexibly be adapted to meet different requirements and uses. Data can be transformed into XBRL by suitable mapping tools or it can be generated in XBRL by appropriate software.

Regulators around the world, including those in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Canada, Singapore and Japan have adopted this format.