We have audied the accompanying financial statements of CSL Finance Limited (the “Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at 31^st March, 2024, and 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 of the 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 (the ‘Act’) and the directions and guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India as applicable to Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking Non Banking Financial Company (‘NBFC Regulations’), 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 31^st March, 2024 and its Profit (including Other Comprehensive Income), its changes in equity and its cash flows for the year ended on that date.

BASIS FOR OPINION

We conducted our audit 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 ‘Auditors’ 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 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 opinion.

KEY AUDIT MATTER

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 year. 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.

INFORMATION OTHER THAN THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND AUDITORS’ REPORT THEREON

The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the Corporate Governance Report and Directors’ Report, including annexures, if any, thereon, (but does not include the financial statements and our auditors’ report thereon), which is expected to be made available to us after the date of this Auditors’ 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 identified above 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 Corporate Governance Report and Directors’ Report, including annexures, if any, thereon, 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 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 including other comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards (“Ind AS”) notified under Section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, and the NBFC Regulations, as amended from time to time.

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 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 Board of Directors 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 Board of Directors 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 as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors’ 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)® 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 auditors’ 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 auditors’ 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 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 financial statements of the current period 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 (Auditors’ 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-‘A’, a statement on the matters specified in paragraph 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 appears from our examination of those books.

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

d. in our opinion, the aforesaid financial statements comply with the Indian Accounting Standards (“Ind AS”) notified under Section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended from time to time.

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 31^st March, 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-‘B’. Our report expresses an unmodified opinion on the adequacy and operating effectiveness of the Company’s internal financial controls with reference to financial statements.

g. in our opinion, the remuneration paid by the Company to its Director is in accordance with the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V of the Act; and

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) Rules, 2014, as amended, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us:

i. There are no pending litigations which may have the impact on Company’s financial position;

ii. The Company has not entered into any long-term contracts including derivative contracts;

iii. There has been no amount, 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 (which are material either individually or in the aggregate) 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 entity (“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 (which are material either individually or in the aggregate) have been received by the Company from any person or entity, including foreign entity (“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;

(c) Based on the audit procedures 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), as provided under (a) and (b) above, contain any material misstatement.

v. The dividend in respect to previous year, declared and paid by the Company during the year, is in accordance with Section 123 of the Act, as applicable. Further, as informed no dividend has been proposed for the current year.

vi. Based on our examination, which included test checks, the Company has used accounting softwares for maintaining its books of account for the financial year ended 31^st March, 2024, which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility and the same has operated throughout the year for all relavent transactions recorded in the accounting 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 1^st April, 2023, reporting under Rule 11(g) of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014 on preservation of the audit trail as per the statutory requirements for record retention is not applicable for the financial year ended 31^st March, 2024.

For S. P. Chopra & Co.

Chartered Accountants Firm Regn. No.: 000346N

(Pawan K. Gupta)

Partner

M. No.: 092529

Place: Noida Dated: 15^th May, 2024