Results arrive in clusters, and the clusters follow a calendar that is easy to learn once you see it. If you have ever wondered why a company’s “Q2” ends in September, or why May is so busy, this is the explanation.
The financial year
Most Indian companies follow a financial year from 1 April to 31 March. It is named by the year in which it ends, so April 2026 to March 2027 is FY27. Quarters are numbered within it, which is where the confusion begins, because Q1 is not January to March. It helps to know which months Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 cover in the Indian financial year, and the table below sets it out.
The quarter table
- Q1: April to June. Results due by 14 August (45 days).
- Q2: July to September. Results due by 14 November.
- Q3: October to December. Results due by 14 February.
- Q4: January to March. Results due by 30 May (60 days, because the year-end audit takes longer).
These deadlines come from the stock exchange listing regulations, and apply to listed companies. Many report early, and a company can be late and face penalties.
How a season unfolds
The earliest filers are typically large companies and banks, who often report within two or three weeks of the quarter’s end. The middle of the window brings the bulk of mid-sized companies. The final days before the deadline bring a rush from smaller companies, and the filing deadline day itself is usually the busiest.
What to read first
When a company reports, a short routine helps:
- Is the statement standalone or consolidated?
- What are revenue, operating profit and net profit, compared with the same quarter last year?
- Are there exceptional items?
- Is the Q4 figure a balancing number against the audited full year?
Companies with different year-ends
Not every company follows April to March. Some subsidiaries of foreign groups follow a calendar year. For them, “Q1” may be January to March. Always check the period stated in the heading of the statement, not just the label.
A quick exercise
A company reports “Q3 FY27” results on 6 February 2027. Which months does that cover? October to December 2026. Is it within the deadline? Yes, because the deadline is 14 February. Which quarter would you compare it with? Q3 FY26, the same quarter a year earlier.
Advance notice of results
Listed companies generally have to give the exchanges advance notice of the board meeting at which results will be considered. These notices are public, so by watching the exchange announcements you can see which companies will report in the coming days. Many companies also list the date on their investor pages. The notice gives the date of the meeting, not the numbers; the results themselves come out after the meeting, often the same evening.
Special cases
- New listings. A company that has just listed reports according to the same calendar, and its first filing may include comparatives that are limited or have been restated.
- Mergers and demergers. Figures for earlier periods may be restated to reflect the new structure. Use the restated comparatives.
- Different year-ends. A few companies close their books at a different date. The heading of the statement gives the period.
- Late or revised filings. Occasionally a company files after the deadline or revises an earlier statement. The exchange announcement usually shows both the original and the revised document.
Building a personal tracker
A simple spreadsheet works well. List companies you follow in rows. In columns, record the board meeting date, the filing date, whether it was on time, and the three main figures with their same-quarter-last-year comparisons. A short note column helps for exceptional items. Over a year, this becomes a compact record of four seasons of reporting.
Using the calendar to plan your reading
Because reporting clusters, you can plan. Decide beforehand how much time you will spend. Reading twenty results in a week requires a quick routine, and a deeper look at two or three can happen later. During the busiest days, keep to the fixed order of checks, which stops the volume from turning into confusion.
Another exercise
A company has a financial year ending 31 March 2027. When is its Q2 FY27 period, and when are results due? Q2 covers July to September 2026, and the results are due by 14 November 2026. A company reporting full-year results for FY27 has until 30 May 2027. A company with a calendar year ending 31 December reports its fiscal third quarter, July to September, in the same window, so always check which period the statement states.
The calendar is simple but easy to forget. Having it in front of you during results season makes the flow of announcements far less overwhelming.
Keep the calendar somewhere visible during results season, and write the period covered next to every number you record. It prevents most of the mix-ups that arise when sources use different labels for the same quarter. The full routine for reading each statement is at https://wealthstar.in/learn/quarterly-results-guide/.
The calendar tells you when to look, and the filings tell you what happened. Neither tells you what to think, which remains for each reader to decide.
