Mutual funds, stock brokers, foreign institutional investors (FII) may be required to post all filings in multiple Indian languages using the extensible business reporting language (XBRL) technology. This is being done to ensure nsistency in data reporting through transparent systems. Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Institute of Chartered Acuntants of India (ICAI) are also actively looking into the issue.

Thousands of financial intermediaries file data to regulators, but the ntents are not anised. These data, at present, need to be re-entered into mputer applications for interpretation. With XBRL, the data that is presented would be ready for immediate re-use by authorised users.

All required filings even under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, once it is implemented, may have to be filed using this technology. The move would help different states to understand and analyse the data better. It would also help in addressing issues, which uld raise ncerns between the Centre and states. The technology offers greater level of transparency, auracy and efficiency while providing a format that helps in capturing the data in several languages. “The use of XBRL would help in minimising errors and gaps in financial data and all GST filings would have to be done in the new format,” an official source familiar with the development said.

Source:Hindustan Times (November 02, 2010)