Where startup financials come from: the sources behind revenue and profit numbers

A reporter cannot open a private company's books. So almost every revenue or loss figure you read traces back to one of four places: a document the company filed with the government, a results statement from a listed company, an offer document for an IPO, or something the company or an investor said in public.

The four are not equal. The first three are formal documents with rules behind them. The fourth is a claim, and it may be true, rounded or chosen to look good. Knowing which source a number came from tells you how far to trust it.

In India, every company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 must file its financial statements each year with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the government office that keeps company records. These statements include the balance sheet, the profit and loss statement and notes, and an outside auditor checks them before filing.

The filings are public. Anyone can obtain a copy through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal, and several data firms read them and publish summaries. This is the main reason you see revenue and loss figures for startups that are not listed.

A filing gives the numbers for one financial year, which runs from April to March in India. It does not give monthly or quarterly figures for a private company.

Data firms that read these filings turn them into the revenue and loss tables you see in news. They extract numbers from scanned documents, so small errors can creep in. When a figure matters, compare it with the filing itself and check the year it covers.

A company whose shares trade on an exchange must publish results every quarter and for the full year. These go to the stock exchanges first, so everyone sees them at the same time, and they are usually discussed on an investor call.

This is why newer listed companies, such as well-known food delivery or payments businesses, have far fresher numbers than private startups. You can find a quarter's revenue within weeks, not a year later.

Listed companies also publish both consolidated and standalone figures, which can differ. Our guide on consolidated versus standalone results explains how.

A company planning an IPO files a draft offer document, the DRHP, with the market regulator SEBI. It carries several years of restated financials, which means the numbers are rearranged on a consistent basis so that years can be compared. The later RHP updates this before the issue opens.

These documents show more detail than a yearly filing: revenue by segment, cost lines, borrowings and risk factors. For many startups, a DRHP is the first time the public sees a full picture. Read more in the DRHP guide.

Offer documents also carry a legal weight that a spokesperson's comment lacks. The company and its directors state that the contents are true, and SEBI reviews the draft before it is allowed to go ahead.

Founders often tell reporters that revenue grew by a certain amount, or that the company turned profitable in a month. Investors also write letters to their own backers that mention portfolio numbers, and some of it reaches the press.

These statements can be useful, but they are not audited and they rarely come with a definition. Annualised revenue, gross merchandise value and run rate are different things, and a headline may mix them up. Treat such figures as the company's own description until a filing confirms them.

A quick way to remember the four sources:

• Annual filing: audited, public, covers one full year, arrives late.
• Quarterly results: listed companies only, fast and detailed.
• Offer document: several years restated, very detailed, IPO companies only.
• Statement or interview: quick, unaudited, definition often missing.

The financial year ends on 31 March. The company then closes its books, the auditor signs off, the shareholders approve the accounts at an annual meeting that can be held several months later, and only then is the statement filed. The law gives companies some time after the meeting to file.

So the numbers for a year ending in March often appear in news around the autumn, and sometimes later. A story in November 2026 about a startup's FY26 numbers is normal. A story about its FY27 numbers would not be, because that year has not even ended. Our guide on Indian financial years explains the labels.

Delays also come from the company itself. A startup that is busy or short of staff may file late and pay a penalty.

Companies file other documents too, such as records of charges on their assets, but the annual financial statements are the ones reporters use for revenue and profit.

As per filings means the number was read from a document the company filed with the registrar or an exchange. You can usually check it yourself. Company figure, or as per the company, means it came from a statement or a spokesperson and may not match any filing.

A careful story names the year, the source and whether the number is consolidated. If a story gives revenue with none of these, ask what it is. The same words, revenue or loss, can mean total income, revenue from operations or profit after tax, so a missing label is a warning sign.

It happens often, and usually nobody is wrong. The common causes are these:

• One outlet quotes revenue from operations and another quotes total income, which also counts interest and other earnings.
• One uses consolidated numbers and the other uses the standalone entity.
• One reads a first filing and the other reads a later restated figure.
• One quotes the company's own number and the other quotes the filing.
• Rupee amounts are converted to dollars at different rates, or rounded differently.