Happiest Minds Technologies Limited

Report on the Audit of the Standalone Financial Statements

Opinion

We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Happiest Minds Technologies Limited (“the Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31,2024, and the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Statement of Cash Flows and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended on that date, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of material accounting policies and other explanatory information which are incorporated the financial statements of Happiest Minds Technologies Share Ownership Plans Trust (the “ESOP trust”) for the year ended on that date audited by the other auditor (“trust auditor”).

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, and based on the consideration of reports of the trust auditor on separate financial statements referred to in the Other Matters section below, the aforesaid standalone 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 its profit, total 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”) specified under section 143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the Auditor's Responsibility 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 (“ICAI”) together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the standalone financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder, 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 obtained by us and the audit evidence obtained by the trust auditor in terms of their reports referred to in the Other Matters section below, 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 of the current period. 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. We have determined the matters described below to be the key audit matters to be communicated in our report.

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 Company's Annual Report 2023-24, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The 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 identified above when it becomes available and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the standalone financial statements or our knowledge obtained during the course of our audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. Other information so far as it relates to the ESOP trust is traced from their financial statements audited by the trust auditors.

• 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 as required under SA 720 ‘The Auditor's responsibilities Relating to Other Information'.

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 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 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 standalone financial statements, management and 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 intend to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

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

Auditor’s Responsibility 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 financial 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 controls with reference to standalone 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 the 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 standalone 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.

• Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the Company and the ESOP trust to express an opinion on the standalone financial statements. We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of

the audit of the financial statements of such entities or business activities included in the standalone financial statements of which we are the independent auditors. For the other entities or business activities included in the standalone financial statements, which have been audited by the trust auditor, such trust auditor remain responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the audits carried out by them. We remain solely responsible for our audit opinion.

Materiality is the magnitude of misstatements in the standalone financial statements that, individually or in aggregate, makes it probable that the economic decisions of a reasonably knowledgeable user of the standalone 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 standalone 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 financial 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 standalone 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.

Other Matters

We did not audit the financial statements of ESOP trust included in the standalone financial statements of the Company whose financial statements reflect total assets of ' 24,651 Lakhs as at March 31,2024, total revenue of ' Nil and net cash flows amounting to ' 882 Lakhs for the year ended on that date, as considered in the standalone financial statements. The financial statements of the ESOP trust have been audited by the trust auditors whose reports have been furnished to us, and our opinion in so far as it relates to the amounts and disclosures included in respect of the ESOP trust and our report in terms of subsection (3) of Section 143 of the Act, in so far as it relates to the aforesaid ESOP trust, is based solely on the report of such trust auditor.

Our opinion on the standalone financial statements and our report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements below is not modified in respect of these matters.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, based on our audit and on the consideration of the reports of the trust auditor on the separate financial statements of the ESOP trust, referred to in the Other Matters section above 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 and the reports of the trust auditor.

c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Loss including Other Comprehensive Income, the Statement of Cash Flows and Statement of Changes in Equity dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the relevant books of account and with the financial statements received from the trust auditors.

d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Ind AS 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 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 standalone financial statements 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 with reference to standalone financial statements.

g) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor's Report in accordance with the requirements of section 197(16) of the Act, as amended, in our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the remuneration paid by the Company to its directors during the year is in accordance with the provisions of section 197 of 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 41 of 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, 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, 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 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), as provided under (a) and (b) above, contain any material misstatement.

v. The final dividend proposed in the previous year, declared and paid by the Company during the year is in accordance with section 123 of the Act, as applicable.

The interim dividend declared and paid by the Company during the year and until the date of this report is in compliance with section 123 of the Act.

As stated in note 46 to the standalone financial statements, the Board of Directors of the Company has proposed final dividend for the year which is subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. Such dividend proposed is in accordance with section 123 of the Act, as applicable.

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 except that:

1. In respect of accounting software used for maintaining revenue records, audit trail was not enabled at the database level to log any direct data changes;

2. The Company migrated to a new accounting software for maintaining payroll records on October 1, 2023. Based on our examination which included test checks, in respect of the earlier software used for maintaining the payroll records for the period April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023 audit trail was not enabled at the database level to log any direct data changes; and

3. I n respect of the accounting software operated by a third party software service provider, for maintaining payroll records, with effect from October 01,2023 based on the independent auditor's service organisation report covering the requirement of audit trail, the Company has used an accounting software for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility at the application level and the same has operated during the period October 1, 2023 till December 31, 2023. No instance of audit trail feature being tampered with has been reported in such independent auditor's report for the aforesaid period. In the absence of an independent auditor's report covering the audit trail requirement for the remaining period, we are unable to comment whether the audit trail feature of the said software was enabled and operated post December 31, 2023, for all relevant transactions recorded in the software or whether there was any instance of the audit trail feature been 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 year ended March 31,2024.

2. As required by the Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2020 (“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.

For DELOITTE HASKINS AND SELLS

Chartered Accountants

(Firm's Registration No.008072S)

Vikas Bagaria

Partner

(Membership No. 060408)

(UDIN: 24060408BKFSLP2254)

Place: Bengaluru

Date: May 6, 2024