Sources and references policy

The sources we prefer

For facts about Indian markets we rely first on primary, official sources:

• the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), including its main website, investor education site, regulations and registers;
• the stock exchanges, NSE and BSE, and their published rules and data;
• the depositories, NSDL and CDSL;
• the Reserve Bank of India and government departments, for economic and policy facts;
• companies' own annual reports and exchange filings, for anything about a specific company.

Secondary sources such as news reports may help us find information, but we confirm important facts against a primary source before stating them.

How references are recorded

Every reference is stored centrally with its title, publisher and web address. Each lesson lists its references at the end, with a note on what each one is for. We cite a source only if we have read it and it supports what the lesson says. We prefer an organisation's lasting pages, such as its regulations and registers, over dated announcements, so that references stay useful.

Facts that change

Tax rates, charges, limits, deadlines, market timings and helpline numbers change from time to time. Lessons do not state them. Instead they explain how the rule works, use clearly labelled made-up numbers in examples, and point you to the official body that publishes the current figure:

• tax rates and holding periods: the Income Tax Department;
• trading charges, price bands, circuit breaker levels and market timings: the stock exchanges, and your own contract note;
• registration of advisers, brokers and other intermediaries, and complaints against them: SEBI;
• inflation figures: the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; interest rates and the inflation target: the Reserve Bank of India;
• deposit insurance cover: the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation;
• reporting online fraud: the government's national cybercrime reporting portal.

Always reach these sites by typing the address yourself. Historical figures, such as the findings of a past study, always state the period they cover.

Things we never do

• Invent a citation, or cite a source we have not read.
• Claim a source supports a statement that it does not.
• Present a historical result as a promise about the future.

If you find a reference that no longer works or no longer supports what we say, please tell us.