We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Andhra Paper Limited (the "Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2024, and the Statement of Profit and Loss including Other Comprehensive Income, Statement of Changes in Equity and Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including material accounting policy information and other explanatory information (hereinafter referred to as the "financial statements”).

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 (the "Act”) 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 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 including 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) of the Act. 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 ("ICAI”) 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 obtained by us is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

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 for the year ended March 31, 2024. 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 the matter described below to be the key audit matter to be communicated in our report:

Recognition, Measurement and Presentation of provisions and contingent liabilities (Refer Note 2C

(e), 21, 22 and 32A in the financial statements for the related disclosures):

The Company has ongoing litigations with various regulatory authorities and third parties. Where an outflow of funds is believed to be probable and a reliable estimate of the outcome of the dispute can be made based on management's assessment of specific circumstances of each dispute and relevant external advice, management provides for its reliable estimate of the liability. Such accruals are by nature complex and can take number of years to resolve and can involve estimation uncertainty.

Given the complexity and magnitude of potential exposures to the Company, the assessment of the existence of legal or constructive obligation and analysis of the probability of the related outflow of resources involves significant judgement by the management.

How the Key Audit Matter was addressed in our audit: Our audit procedures in respect of this area included:

• Obtained a detailed understanding of the managements process for determining statutory liabilities, provisions and contingent liabilities pertaining to claims or disputes.

• Verified the design and operating effectiveness of the Company's key controls over the estimation, monitoring and disclosure of provisions and contingent liabilities.

• Made corroborative inquiries with appropriate level of the management personnel including status update, expectation of outcomes with the basis, and the future course of action contemplated by the Company.

• Obtained the understanding of the matters involved by reading the correspondences, communications, minutes of the Audit Committee and/or the Board meetings and discussions with the appropriate Management personnel.

• Obtained direct confirmation letters from external legal experts and reviewed them to assess the likelihood of outcome, for the purposes of provisioning.

• Evaluated the evidence supporting the judgement of the management about possible outcomes and the reasonableness of the assumptions and estimates, used in measuring the probable or possible impact.

• Evaluated appropriateness and adequacy of the disclosures of the contingent liability made in the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of Ind AS 37 - 'Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Asset'.

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 Management report, Chairman's statement, Director's report, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting etc. (hereinafter referred to as the “other information”) but does not include the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The Management report, Chairman's statement, Director's report, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting etc. is expected to be made available to us after the date of this auditor's report.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we will 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 when it becomes available 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.

When we read the other information, if we conclude that there is a material misstatement therein, we are required to communicate the matter to those charged with governance under SA 720 'The Auditor's responsibilities Relating to Other Information'.

Responsibilities of Management and Board of Directors for the 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 financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance, changes in equity and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the

Accounting Standards 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 statement 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 Board of Directors are 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 Board of Directors either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

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

Auditor's 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.

We give in “Annexure A” a detailed description of Auditor's responsibilities for Audit of the Financial Statements.

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 B” a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order, to the extent applicable.

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 except for the matters stated in the paragraph h (vi) below on reporting under Rule 11(g).

(c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including other comprehensive income, the Statement of Changes in Equity and the Statement of Cash Flow dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account.

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act.

(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 are 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 of the internal financial controls with reference to financial statements of the Company and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in “Annexure C”.

(g) The reservation relating to the maintenance of accounts and other matters connected therewith are as stated in paragraph 2(b) above on reporting under Section 143(3)(b) and paragraph 2(h)(vi) below on reporting under Rule 11(g).

(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, 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

provided to us by the Management in this regard nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under subclause (i) and (ii) of Rule 11(e) as provided under (1) and (2) above, contain any material mis-statement.

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 Companies Act 2013 to the extent it applies to payment of dividend.

vi. Based on our examination, the Company has used an accounting software for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility. However, the audit trail facility has not been operated throughout the year for all relevant transactions

recorded in the accounting software, as the audit trail feature was not enabled in the accounting software during the year ended March 31, 2024.

3. In our opinion, according to information, explanations given to us, the remuneration paid / provided by the Company to its directors is within the limits laid prescribed under Section 197 read with Schedule V of the Act and the rules thereunder.

For M S K A & Associates

Chartered Accountants ICAI Firm Registration No. 105047W

Prakash Chandra Bhutada

Partner

Place: Hyderabad Membership No. 404621

Date: May 14, 2024 UDIN: 24404621BKFSKC8157