By Govindraj Ethiraj
Copyright thecore
India’s era of quarterly results began in 2000, when the markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), mandated that all listed companies declare their earnings every three months.Till then, it was only annual results.However, the practice truly evolved into a spectacle a year later, thanks to IT giant Infosys.In a move that would set new standards, Infosys transformed its announcement for the Q1 2001 results into a high-production event.From a specially designed studio in its Bengaluru campus, the company pandered to live business television news, with a press release meticulously detailing the timing for audiences in both India and New York, and the list of speakers, led by then-Chairman and CEO NR Narayana Murthy.Infosys had masterfully seized the twin opportunity of disclosing its numbers and doing so with unmatched panache.Over the years, this production only grew in size and scale as other IT firms jumped on the bandwagon. Yet, none could quite match Infosys’s chutzpah.The quarterly drama, often accompanied by voluntary — and highly influential — earnings guidance, became a unique hallmark of the tech sector, serving as a public statement of confidence.Time For Change? The whole system of frequent results reporting is now being questioned, after a while.The debate was reignited when US president Donald Trump suggested on Monday that p…
