Alkali Metals Limited
Report on the Audit of the Financial Statements Opinion
We have audited the accompanying financial statements of ALKALI METALS LIMITED (“the Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31 2024, the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Statement of Changes in Equity and Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended, and Notes to the 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 financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013 in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended, (“Ind AS”) and other accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2024, and its Profit and Other Comprehensive Income, Changes in Equity and its Cash flows for the year ended on that date.
Basis for Opinion
We conducted our audit of the financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs) specified under section 143(10) ofthe Companies Act, 2013. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the 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 Companies Act, 2013 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 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 financial statements of the current period. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. We have determined that there are no key audit matters to communicate in our report.
Other Information
The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the preparation of the other information. The other information obtained at the date of this auditors’ report comprises the information included in the Management Discussion and Analysis, Board’s Report including Annexures to Board’s Report and Shareholder’s Information but does not include the financial statements and our auditors’ report thereon.
Our opinion on the 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 financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.
If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.
Responsibilities of Management and Those Charged with Governance for the 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 financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance, total comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Ind AS specified 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 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 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 financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the 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 the management either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.
Those Board of Directors are also responsible for overseeing the company’s financial reporting process. Auditors’ Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the 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 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 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 Companies Act, 2013, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the Company has adequate internal financial controls system 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 financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the 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.
Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements
1. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of Section 143 of the Act (hereinafter referred to the “Order”), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure-1 a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 ofthe Order.
2. As required by section 143(3) ofthe 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 beliefwere necessary for the purpose 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 Statement of Cash flows and the Statement of changes in equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account.
d) In our opinion, the aforesaid said financial statements comply with the Ind AS specified under Section 133 ofthe Act, read with Rule 7 ofthe Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014.
e) On the basis of written representations received from the Directors as on March 31, 2024, and 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) ofthe 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 -2”.
g) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditors’ Report in accordance with the requirements of Section 197(16) ofthe Act, as amended, we report that the remuneration paid by the Company to its directors during the year, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, is in accordance with the provisions of Section 197 of the Act.”
h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditors’ Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors), 2014, 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 Ind AS financial statements.
ii. In our opinion and as per the information and explanations provides to us, the Company has not entered into any long-term contracts including derivative contracts, requiring provision under applicable laws or accounting standards, for material foreseeable losses, and
iii. The Company had transferred the required amounts to Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) without any delay, but as per the explanation given by the Company the challan for transfer of funds is not getting linked on the MCA portal due to technical issues. (Please refer to Note No.56)
iv. (a) The Management has represented that, to the best of it’s knowledge and belief, as
disclosed in the Note No. 49 to the accounts, 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 or entity, including foreign entities (“Intermediaries”), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, 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 it’s knowledge and belief, as disclosed in the Note No. 49 to the accounts, no funds have been received by the Company from any person or entity, including foreign entities (“Funding Parties”), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Company shall, 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 ofthe Ultimate Beneficiaries.
(c) Based on the 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 (i) and (ii) of Rule 11(e) contain any material mis-statement.
v. The dividend declared and paid during the year by the Company is in compliance of Section 123 of the Companies Act, 2013.
vi. Based on our examination, which included test checks, the Company has used accounting software for maintaining its books of account for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 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. Further, during the course of our audit we did not come across any instance of the audit trail feature being tampered with.
As proviso to Rule 3(1) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 is applicable from April 1, 2023, reporting under Rule 11(g) of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014 on preservation of audit trail as per the statutory requirements for record retention is not applicable for the financial year ended March 31,2024.
For G. Nagendrasundram & Co
Chartered Accountants (FRN: 005355S)
B.N. Bharathi
Partner
Place : Hyderabad M.No. 236639
Date : 25th May, 2024 UDIN:24236639BKCZFJ9673
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