Interest paid versus interest expense

The finance cost in the income statement and the interest actually paid in the cash flow statement should be close. When they are not, the difference has a reason worth finding.

A company charging ₹140 crore of finance cost while paying ₹210 crore has paid ₹70 crore more than it expensed, and the usual explanation is interest capitalised into an asset under construction instead of being run through profit.

That treatment is permitted and isn't a red flag on its own. It becomes one when the capitalised amount is large relative to profit, because the reported earnings then depend on a project that isn't yet earning anything, and the charge arrives later as higher depreciation.

Compute the ratio every year, and watch which way it moves. When the gap widens at a company with a growing capital work in progress balance, one number is telling the same story as another.