Report on the Audit of the Financial Statements

Opinion

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Ashirwad Steels & Industries 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 the Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary ofsignificant accounting policies and other explanatory information (hereinafter referred to as “theFinancial 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 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 total comprehensive income (comprising of profit and other comprehensive income), changes in equity and its cash flows for the year then ended.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs) specified under section 143(10) of the 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 (“the 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 made there under, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the ICAI’s Code of Ethics. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Emphasis of Matter

We draw your attention to Note no-1 to the financial statements which states that the Company had sold /disposed off it’s Sponge iron factories situated at Jamshedpur and Nalgonda (Telangana) during the financial year 2021-22 and in 2018-19 respectively Further the company had two LPG bottling plants located at Uluberia Industrial Growth Centre, Howrah, West Bengal and the second one at Raigarh in the State of Chattisgarh. The former was also sold out during the previous financial year .As per the management of the Company, the second bottling plant at Raigarh is lying inoperative for last several years as being economically unviable, hence the Company was left with no trading or industrial business and the Board of Directors in their wisdom and in the intertest of the company adopted the new business of investments in shares & securities and lending (beside others) by adopting new Memorandum of Association of the Company with the approval and consent of the same by the shareholders through postal ballot process. However, the management is actively and seriously making efforts to identify any other suitable and economically viable business or industry .However, the company would continue to invest it’s funds in it’s business of investments in shares and securities and lending (beside others).

Further, the management and the Board of directors have assessed the impact of the activities and transactions of it’s business and believes in the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Our opinion is not modified in respect of these above matters.

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 the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report.

Description of Key Audit Matter Evaluation of key tax matters

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 Management’s Discussion and Analysis report as contained in the annual Board’s Report including Annexures therein, Corporate Governance Report and forming part of and included in the Company’s aforesaid annual report, but does not include the financial statements and our auditor’s 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 are materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained during our 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 these other information; we are required to report that facts.

Management's Responsibility and those charged with governance for the Financial Statements

The Company’s Board of Directors are 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 Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) specified under Section 133 of the Act 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 safe guarding 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, Management is responsible for assessing the Company’s ability tocontinue 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 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 are free from material misstatements, 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 Standards on Audit (SA)will always detect a material misstatement when and if 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 based on 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 misstatements 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 controls.

•    Obtain an understanding of internal controls 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 control systems 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.

Materiality is the magnitude of misstatements in the financial statements that, individually or in aggregate, makes it probable that the economic decisions of a reasonably knowledgeable user of the financial statements may be influenced. We consider quantitative materiality and qualitative factors in

(i)    planning the scope of our audit work and in evaluating the results of our work; and

(ii)    to evaluate the effect of any identified misstatements in the financial statements.

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 controls 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 financial statements of the period under audit 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 matters 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 in terms of Section143(11) of the Act, applicable from 01st April, 2021, we give in the “Annexure B” a statement on the matters specified in paragraph 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 accounts as required by the 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 Changes in Equity and the Statement of cash flow dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the relevant books of accounts.

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

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) Amendment Rules, 2021, effective from 01st April 2021, in our

opinion and to best of our information and according to the explanations given to us , we report that : -

a)    The Company did not have any significant pending litigation as at March 31, 2024, which may affect its financial position in a substantial way.

b)    The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses, during the financial year ended March 31, 2024

c)    During the financial year under reporting; no amounts were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company, so the question of delay in transferring such sums does not arise.

d)    Omitted by the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Amendment Rules 2021, effective from 01st April, 2021

e)    (i) The Management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in Note 27(14)(A) to the financial statements, 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, 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.

(ii)    The Management has represented, that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in Note 27(14)(B) to the financial statements, 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, 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.

(iii)    Unmodified Opinion: Based on the audit procedures performed that has 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.

f)    No dividends were declared or paid during the year by the Company, hence compliance with Section 123 of the Companies Act, 2013 is not applicable

g)    With respect to the matters to be included in the Auditors Report in accordance with Rule 11(g) of Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules 2014effective from 1st April 2023, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us and based on our examination which included test checks, the Company have used an accounting software for maintaining its books of accounts 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 in compliance to the Proviso to Rule 3(1) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 (or maintaining books of account using accounting software which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility as applicable to the company with effect from April, 2023). Further, during the course of our audit we did not come across any instance of audit trail feature being tampered with.

Since this is the first year of implementation of Proviso to Rule 3(1) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules 2014 hence reporting requirement for preservance of Audit trail by the company is not applicable for the FY-2023-2024.

3) With respect to the matter to be included in the Auditor’s Report under Section 197(16) of the Act:-

In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the remuneration paid by the Company to its directors during the current year is in accordance with the provisions of Section 197 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Schedule V to the said Act.

For and on behalf of

C.K. CHANDAK & CO

Chartered Accountants

Firm Registration Number: 326844E

CA Chandra Kumar Chandak

Proprietor

Membership Number: 054297 UDIN: 24054297BKFCRA64 Place: Kolkata Date: 07^th May, 2024