Quoted Investments explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Schedule III asks for market value alongside carrying amount. For most Ind AS portfolios those are the same number — and the guidance note explains the narrow case where they are not.
The three aggregates
- Aggregate amount of quoted investments and market value thereof;
- Aggregate amount of unquoted investments; and
- Aggregate amount of impairment in value of investments.
The aggregate amount means the aggregate carrying value of those investments as at the reporting date as included in the financial statements. And the disclosure needs to be made separately for non-current investments and current investments — not once for the combined portfolio.
Market value of quoted investments would generally mean disclosure of the fair value as at each reporting date. Ind AS 113 adds that fair value might be affected when there has been a significant decrease in the volume or level of activity for that asset in relation to normal market activity.
Two propositions follow, and they point in different directions:
A decrease in volume or level of activity on its own may not indicate that a quoted price does not represent fair value. Thin trading is not by itself disqualifying.
But if, based on the company's evaluation, it determines that a quoted price does not represent fair value, the company shall disclose the market value of quoted investments based on the quoted price — which would be different from the investment's fair value.
That is the one case where the Schedule III "market value" column and the Ind AS 113 fair value used for measurement carry different numbers in the same financial statements. The market value column follows the quoted price; the carrying amount follows fair value as determined.
Where investments are measured at FVTPL or FVOCI, carrying amount and market value are expected to be the same, subject to that consideration.
What counts as quoted
The term is not defined in Ind AS Schedule III. The guidance note falls back on the erstwhile pre-Revised Schedule VI under the Companies Act, 1956, where a quoted investment means one in respect of which there has been granted a quotation or permission to deal on a recognised stock exchange, and unquoted investment is construed accordingly.
Note that the test is the existence of a quotation or permission to deal, not whether the instrument actually traded during the period — which is consistent with the treatment of thin trading above.
Why the split by non-current and current matters
The same instrument type can sit in both categories depending on intended realisation. Presenting one combined aggregate of quoted investments obscures which part of the portfolio is expected to be realised within twelve months or the operating cycle — the very question the current/non-current classification exists to answer.
Putting the disclosure together
- Compute the aggregate carrying value of quoted investments, and separately their market value.
- Compute the aggregate carrying value of unquoted investments.
- Compute the aggregate impairment recognised.
- Repeat all three for the non-current and current portfolios.
- Where a quoted price has been judged not to represent fair value, state the market value on the quoted price and explain the divergence.
Common mistakes
- Giving one combined aggregate instead of separate non-current and current disclosures.
- Treating thin trading as automatically displacing the quoted price.
- Reporting market value for FVTPL holdings as something other than carrying amount without explanation.
- Classifying an untraded but listed security as unquoted.