Auditor Report of Central Depository Services (India) Ltd.

Mar 31, 2025

Central Depository Services (India) Limited

Report on the Audit of the Standalone Financial StatementsOpinion

We have audited the standalone financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance sheet as at March 31, 2025, the Statement of Profit and Loss, including the statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and notes to the standalone financial statements, including a summary of material accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013, as amended ("the Act”) in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2025, its profit including other comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit of the standalone financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs), as specified under section 143(10) ofthe Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the ''Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements’ section of our report. We are independent of the Company in accordance

with the ''Code of Ethics'' issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2025. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the standalone financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. For each matter below, our description of how our audit addressed the matter is provided in that context.

We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report. We have fulfilled the responsibilities described in the Auditor''s responsibilities for the audit of the standalone financial statements section of our report, including in relation to these matters. Accordingly, our audit included the performance of procedures designed to respond to our assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements. The results of our audit procedures, including the procedures performed to address the matters below, provide the basis for our audit opinion on the accompanying standalone financial statements.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of investments and its impairment (as described in Note 4 and 5 of the standalone financial statements)
Quoted investments and unquoted investments represent the most significant amount on the balance sheet. The total of the aggregating to '' 1,08,559.74 lakhs represent 63.20% of the total assets of the Company as at March 31, 2025. There is a risk that the fair value of investments is not determined appropriately. Accordingly, the valuation of investments and its impairment is considered as a key audit matter.	Our audit procedures included the following: • Assessed the design and implementation of controls over valuation and existence of investments • Traced the quantity held from the confirmation obtained independently from Custodian and Fund houses • Tested the valuation of the quoted and unquoted investments to independent price sources • Assessed and tested the management procedures for performing impairment analysis of investments, wherever necessary

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Information Technology (IT) systems and controls
The reliability of IT systems plays a key role in the business operations.	Our audit procedures included the following:
Since large volume of transaction are processed, the IT controls are required to ensure that systems process data as expected and there are adequate Controls in respect of changes made to the IT systems.	• Assessed the information systems used by the Company for IT General Controls (ITGCs) and Application controls;
The IT infrastructure is critical for smooth functioning of the Company’s business operations as well as for timely and accurate financial accounting and reporting.	• The aspects covered in the IT systems General Control audit were (i) User Access Management (ii) Programme Change Management (iii) Other related ITGCs; - to understand the design and test the
	operating effectiveness of such controls in the system;
Due to the pervasive nature and complexity of the IT environment and large volume of transactions, we have considered IT systems and controls as a key audit matter.	• Performed test of controls on the IT application controls and IT dependent manual controls in the system;
	• Tested the design and operating effectiveness of IT controls.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor''s Report Thereon

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Annual report is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor’s report.

Our opinion on the standalone financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the standalone financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether such other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

When we read the Annual report, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance.

Responsibilities of Management for the Standalone Financial Statements

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended. This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding of the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities;

selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the standalone financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are also responsible for overseeing the Company''s financial reporting process.

Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor''s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with SAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these standalone financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements, whether due to fraud

or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under section 143(3) (i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls with reference to financial statements in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of management''s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor''s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the standalone financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the standalone financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the standalone financial statements

for the financial year ended March 31, 2025 and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor''s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2020 ("the Order"), issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act, we give in the "Annexure 1" a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report, to the extent applicable, that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including the Statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended;

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2025 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2025 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act;

(f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls with reference to these standalone financial statements and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in "Annexure 2" to this report;

(g) In our opinion, the managerial remuneration for the year ended March 31, 2025 has been paid/provided by the Company to its directors in accordance with the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act;

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor''s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 34 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

iv. a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been advanced or loaned or invested (either from borrowed funds or share premium or any other sources or kind of funds) by the Company to or in any other person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Intermediaries"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, whether, directly or indirectly lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Company ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been received by the Company from any person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Funding Parties"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Company shall, whether, directly or indirectly, lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Funding Party ("Ultimate

Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries; and

c) Based on such audit procedures performed that have been considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under sub-clause (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

v. The final dividend paid by the Company during the year in respect of the same declared for the previous year is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to payment of dividend.

As stated in note 14.4 to the standalone financial statements, the Board of Directors of the Company have proposed final dividend for the year which is subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The dividend declared is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to declaration of dividend.

vi. Based on our examination which included test checks, the Company has used accounting software for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility and the same has operated throughout the year for all relevant transactions recorded in the software (refer Note 48 to the financial statements). Further, during the course of our audit we did not come across any instance of audit trail feature being tampered with. Additionally, the audit trail of prior years has been preserved by the Company as per the statutory requirements for record retention.

For S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP

Chartered Accountants ICAI Firm Registration Number: 301003E/E300005

per Pikashoo Mutha

Partner

Membership Number: 131658 UDIN:25131658BMIYLP2286

Place of Signature: Mumbai Date: May 03, 2025

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Mar 31, 2024

We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance sheet as at March 31, 2024, the Statement of Profit and Loss, including the statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and notes to the standalone financial statements, including a summary of material accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013, as amended ("the Act") in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2024, its profit including other comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit ofthe standalone financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs), as specified under Section 143(10) ofthe Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the ''Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements’ section of our report. We are independent of

the Company in accordance with the ''Code of Ethics'' issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, were of most significance in our audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2024. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the standalone financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. For each matter below, our description of how our audit addressed the matter is provided in that context.

We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report. We have fulfilled the responsibilities described in the Auditor''s responsibilities for the audit of the standalone financial statements section of our report, including in relation to these matters. Accordingly, our audit included the performance of procedures designed to respond to our assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements. The results of our audit procedures, including the procedures performed to address the matters below, provide the basis for our audit opinion on the accompanying standalone financial statements.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of investments and its impairment (as described in Note 4, 5 and 5A of the standalone financial statements)
Quoted investments and unquoted investments represent the most	Our audit procedures included the following:
significant amount on the balance sheet. The total of the aggregating	•	Assessed the design and implementation of controls over valuation and
to '' 90,478.36 Lakh represent 64% of the total assets of the Company		existence of investments
as at March 31, 2024.	•	Traced the quantity held from the confirmation obtained independently
There is a risk that the fair value of investments is not determined		from Custodian and Fund houses
appropriately. Accordingly, the valuation of investments and its	•	Tested the valuation of the quoted and unquoted investments to
impairment is considered as a key audit matter.		independent price sources
	•	Assessed and tested the management procedures for performing
		impairment analysis of investments, wherever necessary
Information Technology (IT) systems and controls
The reliability of IT systems plays a key role in the business	Our audit procedures included the following:
operations. Since large volume of transaction are processed, the	•	Assessed the information systems used by the Company for IT General
IT controls are required to ensure that systems process data as		Controls (ITGCs) and Application controls;
expected and there are adequate controls in respect of changes	•	The aspects covered in the IT systems General Control audit were (i)
made to the IT systems.		User Access Management (ii) Programme Change Management (iii)
The IT infrastructure is critical for smooth functioning of the		Other related ITGCs; - to understand the design and test the operating
Company’s business operations as well as for timely and accurate		effectiveness of such controls in the system;
financial accounting and reporting.	•	Performed test of controls on the IT application controls and IT
Due to the pervasive nature and complexity of the IT environment		dependent manual controls in the system;
and large volume of transactions, we have considered IT systems	•	Tested the design and operating effectiveness of compensating controls,
and controls as a key audit matter.		where deficiencies were identified and, where necessary, extended the
		scope of our substantive audit procedures.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor''s Report Thereon

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Annual report is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor''s report.

Our opinion on the standalone financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the standalone financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether such other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

When we read the Annual report, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance.

Responsibilities of Management and Those Charged with Governance for the Standalone Financial Statements

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under Section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended. This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding of the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the standalone financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are also responsible for overseeing the Company''s financial reporting process.

Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor''s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with SAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these standalone financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under Section 143(3) (i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls with reference to financial statements in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of management''s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor''s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor''s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the standalone financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the standalone financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor''s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 ("the Order"), issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of Section 143 of the Act, we give in the "Annexure 1" a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report, to the extent applicable, that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including the Statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended;

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2024 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2024 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act;

(f) With respect to the adequacy ofthe internal financial controls with reference to standalone financial statements and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in "Annexure 2" to this report;

(g) In our opinion, the managerial remuneration for the year ended March 31, 2024 has been paid/provided by the Company to its directors in accordance with the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act;

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor''s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 34 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

iv. a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been advanced or loaned or invested (either from borrowed funds or share premium or any other sources or kind of funds) by the Company to or in any other person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Intermediaries"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, whether, directly or indirectly lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Company ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been received

by the Company from any person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Funding Parties"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Company shall, whether, directly or indirectly, lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Funding Party ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries; and

c) Based on such audit procedures performed that have been considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under sub-clause (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

The final dividend paid by the Company during the year in respect of the same declared for the previous year is in accordance with Section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to payment of dividend.

As stated in note 14.4 to the standalone financial statements, the Board of Directors of the Company has proposed final dividend

(including special dividend) for the year which is subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The dividend declared is in accordance with Section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to declaration of dividend.

vi. Based on our examination which included test checks, the Company has used accounting software for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility and the same has operated throughout the year for all relevant transactions recorded in the software (refer Note 49 to the financial statements). Further, during the course of our audit, we did not come across any instance of audit trail feature being tampered with.

For S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP

Chartered Accountants ICAI Firm Registration Number: 301003E/E300005

per Jayesh Gandhi

Partner

Membership Number: 037924 UDIN: 24037924BKELVR3569

Place: Mumbai Date: May 04, 2024

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Mar 31, 2023

Central Depository Services (India) Limited

Report on the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Opinion

We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance sheet as at March 31, 2023, the Statement of Profit and Loss, including the statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and notes to the standalone financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013, as amended ("the Act") in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2023, its profit including other comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit of the standalone financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs), as specified under section 143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the ''Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements’ section of our report. We are independent of

the Company in accordance with the ''Code of Ethics'' issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2023. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the standalone financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. For each matter below, our description of how our audit addressed the matter is provided in that context.

We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report. We have fulfilled the responsibilities described in the Auditor''s responsibilities for the audit of the standalone financial statements section of our report, including in relation to these matters. Accordingly, our audit included the performance of procedures designed to respond to our assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements. The results of our audit procedures, including the procedures performed to address the matters below, provide the basis for our audit opinion on the accompanying standalone financial statements.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of investments and its impairment (as described in Note 4 and 5 of the standalone financial statements)
Quoted investments and unquoted investments represent the most	Our audit procedures included the following:
significant amount on the balance sheet. The total of the aggregating	> Assessed the design and implementation of controls over valuation
to 1 73,959.97 lakhs represent 64% of the total assets of the Company as at March 31, 2023.	and existence of investments > Traced the quantity held from the confirmation obtained
There is a risk that the fair value of investments is not determined	independently from Custodian and Fund houses
appropriately. Accordingly, the valuation of investments and its	> Tested the valuation of the quoted and unquoted investments to
impairment is considered as a key audit matter.	independent price sources > Assessed and tested the management procedures for performing impairment analysis of investments, wherever necessary

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Information Technology (IT) systems and controls
The reliability of IT systems plays a key role in the business operations.	Our audit procedures included the following:
Since large volume of transaction are processed, the IT controls are	h	Assessed the information systems used by the Company for IT
required to ensure that systems process data as expected and there are adequate controls in respect of changes made to the IT systems.	h	General Controls (ITGCs) and Application controls;
		The aspects covered in the IT systems General Control audit were
The IT infrastructure is critical for smooth functioning of the		(i) User Access Management (ii) Program Change Management (iii)
Company''s business operations as well as for timely and accurate		Other related ITGCs; - to understand the design and test the operating
financial accounting and reporting.		effectiveness of such controls in the system;
Due to the pervasive nature and complexity of the IT environment	h	Performed test of controls (including other compensatory controls
and large volume of transactions, we have considered IT systems and		wherever applicable) on the IT application controls and IT dependent
controls as a key audit matter.		manual controls in the system;
	h	Tested the design and operating effectiveness of compensating controls, where deficiencies were identified and, where necessary, extended the scope of our substantive audit procedures.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor''s Report Thereon

accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding of the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the standalone financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

The Board of Directors is also responsible for overseeing the Company''s financial reporting process.

Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor''s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with SAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these standalone financial statements.

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Annual report is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor''s report.

Our opinion on the standalone financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the standalone financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether such other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

When we read the Annual report, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance.

Responsibilities of Management for the Standalone Financial Statements

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended. This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2023 and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor''s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2020 ("the Order"), issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act, based on our audit, we give in the "Annexure 1" a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including the Statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended;

(e) O n the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2023 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of

H Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

H Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under section 143(3) (i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls with reference to financial statements in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

H Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

H Conclude on the appropriateness of management''s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor''s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor''s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern.

H Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the standalone financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the standalone financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been received by the Company from any person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Funding Parties"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Company shall, whether, directly or indirectly, lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Funding Party ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries; and

the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2023 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act;

(f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls with reference to these standalone financial statements and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in "Annexure 2" to this report;

(g) In our opinion, the managerial remuneration for the year ended March 31, 2023 has been paid / provided by the Company to its directors in accordance with the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act;

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor''s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 34 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company;

iv. a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been advanced or loaned or invested (either from borrowed funds or share premium or any other sources or kind of funds) by the Company to or in any other person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Intermediaries"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, whether, directly or indirectly lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalfofthe Company ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

c) Tased on such audit procedures performed that have been considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under sub-clause (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

v. The final dividend paid by the Company during the year in respect of the same declared for the previous year is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to payment of dividend.

As stated in note 14.4 to the standalone financial statements, the Board of Directors of the Company have proposed final dividend for the year which is subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The dividend declared is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to declaration of dividend.

vi. As proviso to Rule 3(1) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is applicable for the Company only w.e.f. April 1, 2023, reporting under this clause is not applicable.

For S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP

Chartered Accountants

ICAI Firm Registration Number: 301003E/E300005

per Jayesh Gandhi

Partner

Membership Number: 037924 UDIN: 23037924BGXTZR4000

Place: Mumbai Date: April 29, 2023

---

Mar 31, 2022

Report on the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements Opinion

We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance sheet as at March 31, 2022, the Statement of Profit and Loss, including the statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and notes to the standalone financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013, as amended ("the Act") in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2022, its profit including other comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit of the standalone financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs), as specified under section 143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the ''Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements'' section of our report. We are independent of the

Company in accordance with the ''Code of Ethics'' issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2022. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the standalone financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. For each matter below, our description of how our audit addressed the matter is provided in that context.

We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report. We have fulfilled the responsibilities described in the Auditor''s responsibilities for the audit of the standalone financial statements section of our report, including in relation to these matters. Accordingly, our audit included the performance of procedures designed to respond to our assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements. The results of our audit procedures, including the procedures performed to address the matters below, provide the basis for our audit opinion on the accompanying standalone financial statements.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of investments and its impairment (as described in note 4, 4.1 and 5 of the standalone financial statements)
Quoted investments and unquoted equity investments, represents the most significant amount on the balance sheet. The total of these aggregating to Rs. 73,652.95 Lakhs representing 72% of total assets of the Company as at March 31, 2022. There is a risk that the fair value of investments is not determined appropriately. Accordingly, the valuation of investments and its impairment is considered as a key audit matter.	Our audit procedures included the following: • Assessed the design and implementation of controls over valuation and existence of investments. • Traced the quantity held, from the confirmation obtained independently from Custodian and Fund houses. • Tested the valuation of the quoted and unquoted investments to independent pricing sources. • Assessed and tested the management procedures for performing impairment analysis of investments, wherever necessary.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Information Technology (IT) systems and controls
The reliability of IT systems plays a key role in the business operations. Since large volume of transactions are processed, the IT controls are required to ensure that systems process data as expected and there are adequate controls in respect of changes made to the IT systems. The IT infrastructure is critical for smooth functioning of the Company''s business operations as well as for timely and accurate financial accounting and reporting. Due to the pervasive nature and complexity of the IT environment and large volume of transactions we have considered IT systems and controls as a key audit matter.	Our audit procedures included the following: • Assessed the information systems used by the Company for IT General Controls (ITGC) and Application controls; • The aspects covered in the IT systems General Control audit were (i) User Access Management (ii) Program Change Management (iii) Other related ITGCs; - to understand the design and test the operating effectiveness of such controls in the system; • Performed tests of controls (including other compensatory controls wherever applicable) on the IT application controls and IT dependent manual controls in the system; • Tested the design and operating effectiveness of compensating controls, where deficiencies were identified and, where necessary, extended the scope of our substantive audit procedures.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor''s Report Thereon

as amended. This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding of the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the standalone financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are also responsible for overseeing the Company''s financial reporting process.

Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor''s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with SAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor''s report thereon. The Annual report is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor''s report.

Our opinion on the standalone financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the standalone financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether such other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

When we read the Annual report, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance.

Responsibilities of Management for the Standalone Financial Statements

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015,

reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these standalone financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the standalone financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under section 143(3) (i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls with reference to financial statements in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of management''s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor''s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor''s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the standalone financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the standalone financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical

requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the standalone financial statements for the financial year ended March 31,2022 and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor''s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order,

2020 ("the Order"), issued by the Central Government of

India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the

Act, we give in "Annexure 1" a statement on the matters

specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including the Statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended;

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2022 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2022 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act;

(f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls with reference to these standalone financial statements and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in "Annexure 2" to this report;

(g) In our opinion, the managerial remuneration for the year ended March 31,2022 has been paid / provided by the Company to its directors in accordance with the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act;

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor''s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 33 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

iv. a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been advanced or loaned or invested (either from borrowed funds or share premium or any other sources or kind of funds) by the company to or in any other person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Intermediaries"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, whether, directly or indirectly lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the company ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds have been received by the company from any person(s) or entity(ies), including foreign entities ("Funding Parties"), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the company shall, whether, directly or indirectly, lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Funding Party ("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries; and

c) Based on such audit procedures that were considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under sub-clause (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

v. The final dividend paid by the Company during the year which was declared in the previous year is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to payment of dividend.

As stated in note 14.4 to the standalone financial statements, the Board of Directors of the Company have proposed final dividend for the year which is subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The dividend declared is in accordance with section 123 of the Act to the extent it applies to declaration of dividend.

For S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP

Chartered Accountants ICAI Firm Registration Number: 301003E/E300005

per Jayesh Gandhi

Partner

Membership Number: 037924 UDIN: 22037924AICQME9569

Mumbai April 29, 2022

---

Mar 31, 2021

Report on the Audit of the Ind AS Financial Statements Opinion

We have audited the accompanying standalone Ind AS financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance sheet as at March 31, 2021, the Statement of Profit and Loss, including the Statement of Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and notes to the standalone Ind AS financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013, as amended ("the Act") in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2021, its profit including other comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs), as specified under section 143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the ''Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Ind AS Financial Statements'' section of our report. We are independent of the Company in accordance with the ''Code of Ethics'' issued

by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. For each matter below, our description of how our audit addressed the matter is provided in that context.

We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report. We have fulfilled the responsibilities described in the Auditor''s responsibilities for the audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements section of our report, including in relation to these matters. Accordingly, our audit included the performance of procedures designed to respond to our assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements. The results of our audit procedures, including the procedures performed to address the matters below, provide the basis for our audit opinion on the accompanying standalone Ind AS financial statements.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Valuation of investments and its impairment (as described in note 4 & 5 of the standalone Ind AS financial statements)
Quoted investments and unquoted equity investments, represents the most significant amount on the balance sheet. The total of these aggregating to '' 57,615 Lakhs representing 69% of total assets of the Company as at March 31,2021. There is a risk that the fair value of investments is not determined	Our audit procedures included the following: • We assessed the design and implementation of controls over valuation and existence of investments. • We traced the quantity held, from the confirmation obtained independently from Custodian and Fund
appropriately. Accordingly, the valuation of investments and	houses.
its impairment is considered as a key audit matter.	• We tested the valuation of the quoted and unquoted investments to independent pricing sources. • We assessed and tested the management procedures for performing impairment analysis of investments, including COVID-19 impact, wherever necessary.

Key audit matters	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Information Technology (IT) systems and controls
The reliability of IT systems plays a key role in the business	Our audit procedures included the following:
operations. Since large volume of transactions are processed, the IT controls are required to ensure that systems process data as expected and there are adequate controls in respect of	• Assessed the information systems used by the Company for IT General Controls (ITGC) and Application controls;
changes made to the IT systems.	• The aspects covered in the IT systems General Control audit
The IT infrastructure is critical for smooth functioning of the Company''s business operations as well as for timely and accurate financial accounting and reporting.	were (i) User Access Management (ii) Program Change Management (iii) Other related ITGCs; - to understand the design and test the operating effectiveness of such controls in the system;
Due to the pervasive nature and complexity of the IT environment and large volume of transactions we have considered IT systems and controls as a key audit matter.	• Performed tests of controls (including other compensatory controls wherever applicable) on the IT application controls and IT dependent manual controls in the system;
	• Tested the design and operating effectiveness of
	compensating controls, where deficiencies were identified and, where necessary, extended the scope of our substantive audit procedures.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor''s Report Thereon

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report but does not include the standalone Ind AS financial statements and our auditor''s report thereon. The Annual report is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor''s report.

Our opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether such other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

When we read the Annual report, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance.

Responsibilities of Management and the Board of Directors for the Ind AS Financial Statements

The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting

Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended. This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding of the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the standalone Ind AS financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

The Board of Directors are also responsible for overseeing the Company''s financial reporting process.

Auditor''s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Ind AS Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor''s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with SAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these standalone Ind AS financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under section 143(3) (i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls with reference to financial statements in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of management''s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company''s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor''s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor''s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2021 and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor''s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2016 ("the Order"), issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act, we give in the Annexure 1, a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended;

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2021 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2021 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act;

(f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls of the Company with reference to these standalone Ind AS financial statements and the

operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in Annexure 2 to this report;

(g) In our opinion, the managerial remuneration for the year ended March 31,2021 has been paid / provided by the Company to its directors in accordance with the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act;

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor''s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone Ind AS financial statements -Refer Note 32 to the standalone Ind AS financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

For S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP

Chartered Accountants ICAI Firm Registration Number: 301003E/E300005

per Jayesh Gandhi

Partner

Membership Number: 037924 UDIN: 21037924AAAACZ4549

Mumbai May 01,2021

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Mar 31, 2018

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS'' REPORT

To The Members of

CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES (INDIA) LIMITED Report on the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying standalone Ind AS financial statements of CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES (INDIA) LIMITED (“the Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at march 31, 2018, and the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management’s Responsibility for the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”) with respect to the preparation of these standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) prescribed under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended, and other accounting principles generally accepted in India.

This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditors’ Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone Ind AS financial statements based on our audit.

In conducting our audit, we have taken into account the provisions of the Act, the accounting and auditing standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report under the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder and the Order issued under section 143(11) of the Act.

We conducted our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the standalone Ind AS financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company’s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence obtained by us is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the Ind AS and other accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2018, and its profit, total comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, based on our audit we report that:

a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit.

b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books.

c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the relevant books of account.

d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements comply with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under section 133 of the Act.

e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors of the Company and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2018 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164(2) of the Act.

f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls over financial reporting of the Company and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in “Annexure A”. Our report expresses an unmodified opinion on the adequacy and operating effectiveness of the Company’s internal financial controls over financial reporting.

g) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor’s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations as at March 31, 2018, on its financial position in its standalone Ind AS financial statements;

ii. The Company has made provision, as required under the applicable law or accounting standards, for material foreseeable losses on long term contracts as at March 31, 2018. The Company does not have any outstanding derivative contracts as at March 31, 2018.

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

2. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2016 (“the Order”) issued by the Central Government in terms of Section 143(11) of the Act, we give in “Annexure B” a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

Report on the Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting under Clause (i) of Sub-section 3 of Section 143 of the Act

We have audited the internal financial controls over financial reporting of CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES (INDIA) LIMITED (“the Company”) as of March 31, 2018 in conjunction with our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements of the Company for the year ended on that date.

Management’s Responsibility for Internal Financial Controls

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal financial controls based on the internal control over financial reporting criteria established by the Company considering the essential components of internal control stated in the Guidance Note on Audit of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. These responsibilities include the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls that were operating effectively for ensuring the orderly and efficient conduct of its business, including adherence to company’s policies, the safeguarding of its assets, the prevention and detection of frauds and errors, the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, and the timely preparation of reliable financial information, as required under the Companies Act, 2013.

Auditors’ Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal financial controls over financial reporting of the Company based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Guidance Note on Audit of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting (the “Guidance Note”) issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Standards on Auditing prescribed under Section 143(10) of the Companies Act, 2013, to the extent applicable to an audit of internal financial controls. Those Standards and the Guidance Note require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether adequate internal financial controls over financial reporting was established and maintained and if such controls operated effectively in all material respects.

Our audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the adequacy of the internal financial controls system over financial reporting and their operating effectiveness. Our audit of internal financial controls over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal financial controls over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the Company’s internal financial controls system over financial reporting.

Meaning of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal financial control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal financial control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorisations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorised acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Inherent Limitations of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting

Because of the inherent limitations of internal financial controls over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any evaluation of the internal financial controls over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the internal financial control over financial reporting may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Opinion

In our opinion, to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the Company has, in all material respects, an adequate internal financial controls system over financial reporting and such internal financial controls over financial reporting were operating effectively as at March 31, 2018, based on “the criteria for internal financial control over financial reporting established by the Company considering the essential components of internal control stated in the Guidance Note issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India”.

(i) (a) According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has maintained proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets were physically verified during the year by the Management in accordance with a regular programme of verification which, in our opinion, provides for physical verification of all the fixed assets at reasonable intervals. According to the information and explanation given to us, no material discrepancies were noticed on such verification.

(c) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records examined by us and based on the examination of the registered sale deed provided to us, we report that, the title deeds, comprising all the immovable properties of land and buildings which are freehold, are held in the name of the Company as at the balance sheet date. In respect of immovable properties of land and buildings that have been taken on lease and disclosed as fixed asset in the financial statements, the lease agreements are in the name of the Company, where the Company is the lessee in the agreement.

(ii) The Company does not have any inventory and hence reporting under clause (ii) of the Order is not applicable.

(iii) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not granted any loans, secured or unsecured, to companies, firms, Limited Liability Partnerships or other parties covered in the register maintained under section 189 of the Act.

(iv) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not granted any loans, made investments or provided guarantees under the provisions of Sections 185 and 186 of the Act and hence reporting under clause (iv) of the Order is not applicable.

(v) According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not accepted any deposit during the year. According to the information and explanations given to us, no order has been passed by the Company Law Board or National Company Law Tribunal or the Reserve Bank of India or any Court or any other Tribunals in this regard in the case of the Company.

(vi) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Central Government has not prescribed the maintenance of cost records under section 148(1) of the Act, in respect of the services rendered by the Company.

(vii) According to the information and explanations given to us, in respect of statutory dues:

(a) The Company has been regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Value Added Tax, Income-tax, Service Tax, Goods and Service Tax, cess and other material statutory dues applicable to it to the appropriate authorities. There were no amounts payable in respect of Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Work Contract Tax, and Excise Duty.

(b) There were no undisputed amounts payable in respect of Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Income-tax, Service Tax, Goods and Service Tax, cess, Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Work Contract Tax, Value Added Tax, and Excise Duty and other material statutory dues in arrears as at March 31, 2018 for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable.

(viii) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not taken any loans or borrowings from financial institutions, banks and government and has not issued any debentures. Hence reporting under clause (viii) of the Order is not applicable to the Company.

(c) Details of dues of Income-tax and Service Tax which have not been deposited as on March 31, 2018 on account of disputes are given below:

Sr. No.	Name of Statute	Nature of dues	Forum where dispute is pending	Period to which the amount relates	Amount involved ('' in Lakhs)	Amount unpaid ('' in Lakhs)
1	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2004-05 to FY 200809	3,293.70	3,293.70
2	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2009-10	512.02	512.02
3	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2010-11	86.81	86.81
4	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2011-12	86.28	86.28
5	Income Tax	Income Tax	The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Mumbai	FY 2010-11	4.92	4.92

There are no dues of Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Value Added Tax as on March 31,

2018 on account of disputes.

(ix) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not raised moneys by way of initial public offer or further public offer (including debt instruments) or term loans and hence reporting under clause (ix) of the Order is not applicable.

(x) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, no fraud by the Company and no material fraud on the Company by its officers or employees has been noticed or reported during the year.

(xi) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has paid / provided managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

(xii) The Company is not a Nidhi Company and hence reporting under clause (xii) of the Order is not applicable.

(xiii) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us the Company is in compliance with Section 188 and 177 of the Act, where applicable, for all transactions with the related parties and the details of related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial statements as required by the applicable accounting standards.

(xiv) During the year the Company has not made any preferential allotment or private placement of shares or fully or partly convertible debentures and hence reporting under clause (xiv) of the Order is not applicable to the Company.

(xv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, during the year the Company has not entered into any noncash transactions with its directors or persons connected with them and hence provisions of section 192 of the Act are not applicable.

(xvi) The Company is not required to be registered under section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

For DELOITTE HASKINS & SELLS

Chartered Accountants

(Firm’s Registration No. 117365W)

G. K. Subramaniam

Partner

MUMBAI, April 21, 2018 (Membership No. 109839)

---

Mar 31, 2017

Report on the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying standalone Ind AS financial statements of Central Depository Services (India) Limited (the “Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2017, and the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management’s Responsibility for the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act”) with respect to the preparation of these standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance including other comprehensive income, cash flows and changes in equity of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) prescribed under section 133 of the Act.

This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding the assets of the Company and for preventing and detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection and application of appropriate accounting policies; making judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, relevant to the preparation and presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditors’ Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone Ind AS financial statements based on our audit.

In conducting our audit, we have taken into account the provisions of the Act, the accounting and auditing standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report under the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder.

We conducted our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the standalone Ind AS financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company’s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence obtained by us is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2017, and its profit, total comprehensive loss , its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, based on our audit we report, to the extent applicable that:

a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit.

b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books.

c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including Other Comprehensive Income, the Cash Flow Statement and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the relevant books of account.

d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements comply with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under section 133 of the Act .

e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 20 17 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164(2) of the Act .

f) With respect to the adequacy of the internal financial controls over financial reporting of the Company and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in “Annexure A”. Our report expresses an unmodified opinion on the adequacy and operating effectiveness of the Company’s internal financial controls over financial reporting.

g) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor’s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact of pending litigations on its financial position in its standalone Ind AS financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses as at the year end.

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company.

iv. The Company has provided requisite disclosures in the financial statements as regards its holding and dealings in Specified Bank Notes as defined in the Notification S.O. 3407(E) dated November 8, 2016 of the Ministry of Finance, during the period from November 8,2016 to December 30, 2016; and such disclosures are in accordance with the books of accounts maintained by the Company.

2. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2016 (“the Order”) issued by the Central Government in terms of Section 143(11) of the Act, we give in “Annexure B” a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

ANNEXURE “B” TO THE INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

(Referred to in paragraph 2 under ‘Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements’ section of our report of even date)

(i) (a) According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has maintained proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation of fixed assets .

(b) The fixed assets were physically verified during the year by the Management in accordance with a regular programme of verification which, in our opinion, provides for physical verification of all the fixed assets at reasonable intervals. According to the information and explanation given to us, no material discrepancies were noticed on such verification.

(c) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records examined by us and based on the examination of the registered sale deed provided to us, we report that, the title deeds, comprising all the immovable properties of land and buildings which are freehold, are held in the name of the Company as at the balance sheet date. In respect of immovable properties of land and buildings that have been taken on lease and disclosed as fixed asset in the financial statements, the lease agreements are in the name of the Company, where the Company is the lessee in the agreement.

(ii) The Company does not have any inventory and hence reporting under clause (ii) of the Order is not applicable.

(iii) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not granted any loans, secured or unsecured, to companies, firms, Limited Liability Partnerships or other parties covered in the register maintained under section 189 of the Act.

(iv) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not granted any loans, made investments or provided guarantees under the provisions of Sections 185 and 186 of the Act and hence reporting under clause (iv) of the Order is not applicable.

(v) According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not accepted any deposit during the year. According to the information and explanations given to us, no order has been passed by the Company Law Board or National Company Law Tribunal or the Reserve Bank of India or any Court or any other Tribunals in this regard in the case of the Company.

(vi) To the best our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Central Government has not prescribed the maintenance of cost records under section 148(1) of the Act, in respect of the services rendered by the Company.

(vii) According to the information and explanations given to us, in respect of statutory dues:

(a) The Company has generally been regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Value Added Tax, Income-tax, Service Tax, cess and other material statutory dues applicable to it to the appropriate authorities. There were no amounts payable in respect of Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Work Contract Tax, and Excise Duty.

(b) There were no undisputed amounts payable in respect of Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Income-tax, Service Tax, cess, Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Work Contract Tax, Value Added Tax and Excise Duty and other material statutory dues in arrears as at March 31, 2017 for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable.

(c) Details of dues of Income-tax and Service Tax which have not been deposited as on March 31, 2017 on account of disputes are given below:

Sr. No .	Name of Statute	Nature of Dues	Forum where Dispute is Pending	Period to which the amount relates	Amount Involved (Rs in lakh)	Amount Unpaid (Rs in lakh)
1	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2004-05 to FY 2008-09	3,293.70	3 ,293.70
2	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2009-10	512.02	512.02
3	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2010-11	86.81	86.81
4	Service Tax	Service Tax	Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal , West Zonal Bench	FY 2011-12	86.28	86.28
5	Service Tax	Service Tax	The Commissioner of Service Tax, Mumbai	FY 2007-08 to FY 2011-12	5.91	5.91
6	Income Tax	Income Tax	The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Mumbai	FY 2010-11	4.92	4.92

There are no dues of Sales Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Value Added Tax as on March 31, 2017 on account of disputes.

(viii) To the best of our knowledge and according to the explanations given to us, the Company has not taken any loans or borrowings from financial institutions, banks and government and has not issued any debentures. Hence reporting under clause (viii) of the Order is not applicable to the Company.

(ix) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not raised moneys by way of initial public offer or further public offer (including debt instruments) or term loans and hence reporting under clause (ix) of the Order is not applicable.

(x) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, no fraud by the Company and no material fraud on the Company by its officers or employees has been noticed or reported during the year.

(xi) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has paid / provided managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

(xii) The Company is not a Nidhi Company and hence reporting under clause (xii) of the Order is not applicable.

(xiii) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company is in compliance with Section 188 and 177 of the Act, where applicable, for all transactions with the related parties and the details of related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial statements as required by the applicable accounting standard s.

(xiv) During the year the Company has not made any preferential allotment or private placement of shares or fully or partly convertible debentures and hence reporting under clause (xiv) of the Order is not applicable to the Company.

(xv) To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, during the year the Company has not entered into any non-cash transactions with its directors or persons connected with them and hence provisions of section 192 of the Act are not applicable.

(xvi) The Company is not required to be registered under section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

For DELOITTE HASKINS & SELLS

Chartered Accountants

(Firm Registration No. 117365W)

G. K. Subramaniam

Partner

(Membership No. 109839)

MUMBAI, April 24, 2017

---

Mar 31, 2011

We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES (INDIA) LIMITED (the "Company") as at 31st March, 2011, the Profit and Loss Account and the Cash Flow Statement of the Company for the year ended on that date, annexed thereto. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company''s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in India. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2003, issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of Section 227 of the Companies Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"), we annex hereto a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the said Order, to the extent applicable.

2. Further to our comments in the Annexure referred to in paragraph I above, we state that:

(a) We have obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company, so far as appears from our examination of those books;

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Profit and Loss Account and the Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the Balance Sheet, the Profit and Loss Account and the Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the accounting standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of Section 211 of the Act, to the extent applicable.

(e) On the basis of written representations received by the Company from the directors, we report that none of the directors is disqualified as on 31st March, 2011 from being appointed as a director of the Company in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (I) of Section 274 of the Act.

(f) In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the said accounts read together with ''Significant Accounting Policies and Notes to Accounts'' in Schedule ''II'' and other notes appearing elsewhere in the accounts, give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(i) in so far as it relates to the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the Company as at 31st March, 2011; •

(ii) in so far as it relates to the Profit & Loss Account, of the profit of the Company for the year ended on that date, and

(iii) in so far as it relates to the Cash Flow Statement of the Company for the year ended on that date.

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN PARAGRAPH I OF AUDITORS'' REPORT OF EVEN DATE ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2011 OF CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES (INDIA) LIMITED.

On the basis of such checks as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us during the course of audit, we state that:

1. (a) The Company has maintained proper records, showing full particulars including quantitative details and situation of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets were physically verified during the year by the Management in accordance with a program of verification, which in our opinion provides for the physical verification of all the fixed assets at reasonable intervals and discrepancies observed during the verification have been properly dealt with in the books of account.

(c) The company has not disposed of substantial part of fixed assets during the year.

2. The Company does not have any inventory. Therefore, the provisions of clause 4(ii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

3. The Company has not granted/taken any loans, secured or unsecured, to/from companies, firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act.

4. There is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of fixed assets and for the sale of services. There were no instances of continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in internal control system.

5. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no transactions that need to be entered into a register in pursuance of Section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956.

6. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not accepted any deposits from the public.

7. In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with the size of the Company and nature of its business.

8. In respect of company''s activities, the Central Government has not prescribed maintenance of cost records under Section 209 (l)(d) of the Act.

9. (a) The Company is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues including Provident Fund, Investor Education and Protection Fund, Employees'' State Insurance, Income Tax, Sales Tax. Wealth Tax, Service Tax, Cess and other material statutory dues applicable to it with the appropriate authorities. No undisputed amounts payable in respect of the aforesaid statutory dues were outstanding as at the last day of the financial year for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable.

(b) There are no dues of Income Tax, Sales Tax, Wealth Tax, Service Tax or Cess which have not been deposited on account of any dispute.

10. The Company has no accumulated losses as at 31st March, 2011 and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

11. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, during the year, the company has not taken any loan and no amounts were due towards principal or interest to financial institution, bank or debenture holders during the year.

12. During the year, the Company has not granted loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

13. The provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund/ nidhi/mutual benefit fund/societies are not applicable to the company.

14. The Company is not dealing or trading in shares, securities, debentures or other securities.

15. On the basis of representation received from the company management the Company has not given any guarantee for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions.

16. The Company has not taken any term loan during the year.

17. During the year, the Company has not raised any funds.

18. During the year, the Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered and recorded in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act.

19. The Company has not issued any debentures during the year.

20. The Company has not raised any money by public issue during the year.

21. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing standards in India and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of such case by the management.

For M. P. Chitale & Co.

Chartered Accountants

Firm Reg. No. 101851W

Viraj Londhe

Partner

(Membership No. 45761)

Place : Mumbai

Date : 26th April, 2011