Editorial Policy. How we make what we publish.

Our Editorial Mission

Aditya Gupta Official exists to publish rigorous, plain-language financial and accounting education for Indian readers. Every piece on the Site is produced with three goals in mind. The first is accuracy — the content must reflect the rules, frameworks, and data that are actually in force at the time of publication, drawing on primary sources rather than secondary commentary wherever possible. The second is clarity — readers must be able to follow the explanation without prior expertise, without the artificial complexity that traps beginners on many finance sites. The third is independence — recommendations must rest on editorial merit, not on commercial relationships.

This policy sets out the processes and standards that translate those three goals into practice. It applies to every piece of content on the Site — blog posts, course lessons, calculator descriptions, glossary entries, infographics, and downloadable resources. It does not apply to user-submitted comments or to content on third-party websites that we link to.

How Topics Are Selected

Topic selection is the start of editorial work. We add topics to the editorial backlog from four sources:

• Reader requests. Questions submitted through the Contact form, suggestions left in social-media replies, and patterns in search queries that bring readers to the Site all feed into the backlog. If multiple readers ask a similar question, the underlying topic is prioritised.
• Regulatory and statutory changes. Each Union Budget, every notification from the Central Board of Direct Taxes, every circular from SEBI, RBI, or the GST Council, and every significant court ruling can trigger a content update or a new piece. We monitor these sources continuously and add the work needed to keep affected content current.
• Coverage gaps. Where we know a hub (Courses, Blogs, Tools, Learn, Glossary) lacks coverage of a topic that an Indian reader is likely to need, we schedule the work to fill the gap.
• Underlying market or industry shifts. New product categories — say, the launch of a sovereign green bond, the introduction of small-cap-focused ETFs, or the rollout of a new pension product — get covered when they reach a level of relevance to the typical retail reader.

Topics are ranked by the size of the reader benefit (how many readers does this help?), the urgency (does a deadline like ITR filing make this time-sensitive?), and the gap (does the open web already have good coverage we can simply link to?).

Research and Sourcing

For every piece of content, the drafter begins by collecting primary sources. The default hierarchy of sources, from most to least authoritative, is:

1. Statutes, rules, notifications, and circulars — the Income Tax Act 1961, the Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, SEBI regulations, the RBI Master Directions, and similar primary law.
2. Regulator and exchange websites — incometax.gov.in, gst.gov.in, sebi.gov.in, rbi.org.in, nseindia.com, bseindia.com, mcxindia.com, ncdex.com.
3. Official handbooks and FAQs published by regulators or institutions (for example, the AMFI FAQ for mutual funds, the PFRDA handbooks for NPS).
4. Audited disclosures of named issuers — annual reports, offer documents, prospectuses.
5. Peer-reviewed academic literature and textbook references on the underlying finance or accounting concept.

Secondary sources — financial-media articles, broker research notes, AMC commentary — are used only to confirm or contextualise what primary sources already say. We do not republish secondary sources in summary form as our own work.

Where a source is cited in the body of an article, the citation links directly to the underlying page (not to a summary or news article about it). Where a number is quoted — a tax slab, a deduction limit, an interest rate, a contract specification — the source and the as-of date are recorded in the editorial draft even if not all of that detail makes it into the published version.

Writing and Style

Our house style favours short paragraphs, concrete examples, and named Indian instruments rather than abstract Western examples. Where a concept is universal, we explain it in plain English first and then anchor it with an Indian example — a Nifty option, a HDFC Bank balance sheet, a PPF account, a typical Maharashtra GST scenario. Where a topic is region-specific — say, the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana — we explain it in its full Indian context without artificial framing.

We avoid three habits common on Indian finance sites: jargon used to signal sophistication, vague hedging language (“returns may vary depending on market conditions”) that fills space without informing, and copy-pasted regulatory language that the reader cannot decode without a glossary. When a technical term must be used, we define it in line on first appearance and add it to the glossary.

Indian English conventions apply throughout — “lakh” and “crore” used naturally, dates written DD/MM/YYYY, currency shown as INR or ₹, and proper nouns used in their commonly accepted Indian spellings.

Review and Fact-Checking

Every draft goes through a fact-check pass before publication. The reviewer’s job is to verify each substantive claim against the source recorded in the editorial notes, to confirm that numerical examples reconcile, and to flag any sentence that overstates confidence or that crosses the line from education into personalised advice.

For pieces that touch tax rules in force at the time of publication, the reviewer also verifies the current assessment year, the applicable regime, and the relevant notifications. For pieces that include worked numerical examples — option payoffs, EMI schedules, SIP projections, retirement gap analyses — the reviewer reruns the calculation independently and compares to the figure in the draft.

Charts and infographics are reviewed for label accuracy (axis labels, units, source notes) and for any visual choice that could mislead — for example, a y-axis that does not start at zero in a context where comparison depends on absolute level. Code that underpins a calculator on the Site is reviewed against a test set before each release.

Use of AI Tools

We use generative-AI tools selectively in our workflow, and we disclose that use here so readers can judge what role machines play.

AI tools are used to help drafters brainstorm an outline, to surface possible sub-topics for coverage, to suggest alternative ways to phrase a complex paragraph, and to do first-pass language and grammar reviews. AI tools are not used as the sole source of factual claims; every assertion in published content is verified by a human reviewer against a primary source.

Where an entire piece is co-produced with substantive AI involvement beyond drafting assistance — for example, AI-generated charts or AI-summarised analyses — we mark the piece accordingly. We do not publish content that is purely auto-generated and unreviewed.

Corrections Policy

Mistakes happen. When a reader spots one, our policy is to fix it quickly and transparently. The workflow is:

1. A correction request reaches us via the Contact form or email.
2. The reviewer verifies the issue against the primary source. If the issue is real, the content is updated.
3. The “Last updated” date on the page is revised. For substantive corrections — a wrong number, a wrong rule, a misstated formula — a brief Corrections note may be added at the foot of the article describing what was changed and when.
4. The reader who reported the error is acknowledged in the reply, and we thank them for the help.

For trivial corrections (typos, minor stylistic edits) the date is updated but no separate note is added. We do not delete history of substantive corrections; transparency about errors is part of building trust with the reader. Verified corrections are typically published within 48 working hours.

Conflicts of Interest

Where a piece of content discusses a named product, brand, or vendor with whom we have a commercial relationship (typically an affiliate program), the relationship is disclosed in line in the article and through the global Affiliate Disclosure page. The presence of a commercial relationship does not change the editorial position of the article. Where coverage would be perceptibly slanted by the relationship — say, in a “best brokers” comparison where one of the candidates is also an affiliate — we either remove the affiliate link from the comparison or, where appropriate, decline to publish the comparison at all.

Individual writers must disclose, in writing, any direct financial holding or family financial holding in a named issuer they cover. Where a conflict is material, the piece is reassigned to a different writer or the writer is instructed to keep the conflicted security out of the discussion. We do not publish recommendations to buy or sell named securities, so the conflict surface is narrower than at a research firm, but the principle still applies.

Sponsored Content and Native Advertising

Sponsored content — content for which a brand has paid us — is separated from editorial content in two ways. First, the placement is labelled clearly using language the reader cannot reasonably miss (“Sponsored”, “Sponsored placement”, “Partner content”). Second, the piece is excluded from our standard editorial recommendations workflow. A sponsored review of a product is not a substitute for, and does not replace, our independent editorial coverage of the same product category.

We will not accept sponsorships from unregulated investment schemes, get-rich-quick programs, deposit-taking entities that are not subject to RBI or SEBI supervision, or products that target vulnerable audiences. Where a sponsorship request crosses ethical lines, we decline it. The Site’s reader trust is worth more than the sponsorship fee.

Author Attribution

Every blog post and course lesson carries a byline that identifies the writer. Where multiple writers contributed materially to a piece — for example, a chartered accountant who reviewed the tax section of a long-form blog — the contribution is acknowledged in the byline or a note at the foot of the piece.

Where a piece is written entirely or substantially by a guest writer with relevant professional credentials, the writer’s credentials and a short bio are included so readers can judge expertise. We do not publish anonymous content on substantive topics; if a writer wishes to remain anonymous, we do not publish the piece.

Standards for Investment Discussions

Discussion of named investment products on the Site follows a strict standard. The discussion is permitted only where it serves an educational purpose — for example, using a real mutual fund to illustrate how the total expense ratio works, or using a real listed company to illustrate how to read a segment-revenue note in a balance sheet. The discussion is not permitted where it would resemble a recommendation to invest in or avoid the specific product.

Returns figures cited in discussions are clearly attributed to a period and a source. Past performance is always accompanied by the standard reminder that it is not indicative of future results. Comparisons across products use comparable horizons, comparable benchmarks, and clearly stated assumptions.

Ethical Use of Reader Data

Reader data captured through analytics or the Contact form is used only for the purposes set out in our Privacy Policy. We do not sell email addresses, we do not share Contact-form messages with third parties beyond the service providers needed to deliver the email, and we do not use reader data to derive identifying profiles for advertising. Aggregate analytics inform our editorial decisions; they do not become a marketing dataset.

Updates to This Policy

We revise this Editorial Policy when our workflows change in any material way, when we adopt new tools that affect how content is produced, or when regulatory guidance evolves. The “Last updated” date at the top of the page indicates the most recent revision.

Contact

For questions about this Editorial Policy, including questions about a specific article, a correction request, or a guest-contribution pitch, please email contact@adityaguptaofficial.com or use the structured form on our Contact page.