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An independent journal on corporate reporting

Reading between
the lines.

India / The reporting desk

Clear thinking on the reports,
rules and disclosures that matter.

Meet The Footnotes
Annual Reports

23 Annual Report Covers Compared: What Works

We put the FY 2025-26 covers of 23 Indian listed companies side by side, then shrank them to 120 pixels. ICICI Bank's single word, Zee's steel Z and LTM's coined verb survive the test. SBI's three-line slogan, Sun Pharma's stock photography and three near-identical blue AI covers don't. What works on an annual report cover, what fails, and a checklist for briefing your agency.

20 min read
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Annual Reports

How to Write the Chairman's and CEO's Message in an Indian Annual Report

No Indian law requires a Chairman's or CEO's letter, yet it's the page that sets the tone for the whole report. We went back to the leadership messages in the FY2025-26 reports we've scored and pulled eight real pages: the letters that make an argument, give the numbers early and name the bad news, and the ones that leave a 26% profit fall to the MD&A. Here's a structure for each message, a checklist, and what it means for CFOs, company secretaries and IR teams.

11 min read
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Annual Reports

The story behind the numbers.

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