We have audited the accompanying Standalone FinancialStatements of The Sandesh Limited ("the Company"),which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2025, theStatement of Profit and Loss (including Other ComprehensiveIncome), the Statement of Changes in Equity and the Statementof Cash Flows for the year ended on that date, and notes tothe Standalone Financial Statements, including a summaryof the material accounting policies and other explanatoryinformation (hereinafter referred to as "the StandaloneFinancial Statements").
In our opinion and to the best of our information and accordingto the explanations given to us, the aforesaid StandaloneFinancial Statements give the information required by theCompanies Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") in themanner so required and give a true and fair view in conformitywith the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under section133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian AccountingStandards) Rules, 2015 as amended, (hereinafter referred to as"Ind AS") and other accounting principles generally accepted inIndia, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31,2025,and its profit, total comprehensive income, changes in equityand its cash flows for the year ended on that date.
We conducted our audit of the Standalone FinancialStatements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing(hereinafter referred to as "SAs") specified under section143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standardsare further described in the Auditor's Responsibilities for theAudit of the Standalone Financial Statements section of ourreport. We are independent of the Company in accordancewith the Code of Ethics issued by the Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (hereinafter referred to as "ICAI")together with the ethical requirements that are relevant toour audit of the Standalone Financial Statements under theprovisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder, and wehave fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordancewith these requirements and the ICAI's Code of Ethics. Webelieve that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficientand appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion onthe Standalone Financial Statements.
Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professionaljudgment, were of most significance in our audit of theStandalone Financial Statements of the current period. Thesematters were addressed in the context of our audit of theStandalone Financial Statements as a whole, and in forming ouropinion thereon, we do not provide a separate opinion on thesematters. We have determined the matters described below tobe the key audit matters to be communicated in our report.
Sr. No.
Key Audit Matter
Auditor's Response
1
Accuracy of recognition, measurement,presentation, and disclosures of advertisementrevenue.
Revenue from advertisement is considered askey audit matter as there is a risk of accuracyof recognition and measurement in theStandalone Financial Statements considering thefollowing aspects:
- Advertisement revenue from print media
• Pricing terms of the advertisementrevenue in the newspaper are complexand prices, generally, are changed oncustomer-to-customer basis
• Number of parties involved, and numberof transactions are huge
- Advertisement revenue from other platforms
• pricing terms are non-standardizedand are different on customer-to-customer basis.
Principal audit procedure:
- Our approach was a combination of test of internal controls,analytical and substantive procedures which includedthe following:
• Evaluated the design of internal control
• For evaluation of operative effectiveness of internalcontrol, tested the advertisement considering theaccuracy of pricing, invoice amount and tax thereon,place, edition and customer.
• Tested the relevant information technology systemin respect of recording and measurement ofadvertisement revenue.
• In case of advertisement in newspaper and on hoardings,verified the date and content of actual advertisementpublished in the newspaper and the site respectively.
• Verification of invoices on sample basis.
• Performed analytical procedures to verify the discountgiven on advertisement
- Evaluated the appropriateness of accounting policies, relateddisclosure made and overall presentation in the StandaloneFinancial Statements in terms of Ind AS 115
2
Valuation of Investments (other thaninvestment in subsidiary company andinvestment measured at amortized cost) inequity shares of companies and units of mutualfunds and recognition of unrealized gain on fairvaluation of such investments.
The Company has investments of ' 1,05,853.34 lakhs(other than investment in subsidiary company andinvestments measured at amortized cost) whichconstitute 73.60 % of total assets as at March 31,2025 and measured at fair value.
As value of investments is substantial unrealizedgain on such investments have significant impacton financial results of the Company during the year,these are considered as key audit matters.
Our approach was a combination of test of internal controls, and
substantive procedures which included the following:
- Evaluated the design of control and implementation thereof.
- For evaluation of operative effectiveness of internal control:
• Verified contract notes on purchase and sales of equityshares and units of mutual fund
• Re-compute realized gain on derecognition of suchinvestments and unrealized gain on fair valuation ofsuch investments held at year-end.
• Verified the holding statements of such investments asat year-end.
• For investment in equity shares of private limitedcompany, assessed the Company's investment carryingvalues with the net assets value of the investments as at31 March 2025.
The Company's Board of Directors is responsible for thepreparation of the other information. The other informationcomprises the information included in the ManagementDiscussion and Analysis, the Board's Report includingAnnexures to Board's Report, Corporate Governance andShareholder's Information, but does not include the StandaloneFinancial Statements, Consolidated Financial Statements andour auditor's reports thereon. The other information reportis expected to be made available to us after the date of thisauditor's report.
Our opinion on the Standalone Financial Statements does notcover the other information and we do not express any form ofassurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the Standalone FinancialStatements, our responsibility is to read the other informationand, in doing so, consider whether the other informationis materially inconsistent with the Standalone FinancialStatements, or our knowledge obtained during the course ofour audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.
When we read the Final Annual report, if we conclude thatthere is a material misstatement therein, we are required to
communicate the matter to those charged with governance andtake necessary actions as per applicable laws and regulations.
The Company's Board of Directors is responsible for thematters stated in section 134(5) of the Act with respect to thepreparation of these Standalone Financial Statements thatgive a true and fair view of the financial position, financialperformance, total comprehensive income, changes in equityand cash flows of the Company in accordance with the Ind ASand other accounting principles generally accepted in India.This responsibility also includes maintenance of adequateaccounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Actfor safeguarding the assets of the Company and for preventingand detecting frauds and other irregularities; selection andapplication of appropriate accounting policies; makingjudgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; anddesign, implementation and maintenance of adequate internalfinancial controls, that were operating effectively for ensuringthe accuracy and completeness of the accounting records,relevant to the preparation and presentation of the StandaloneFinancial Statements that give a true and fair view and are freefrom material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the Standalone Financial Statements, managementis responsible for assessing the Company's ability to continueas a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related togoing concern and using the going concern basis of accountingunless management either intends to liquidate the Company orto cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.
The Board of Directors are responsible for overseeing theCompany's financial reporting process.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance aboutwhether the Standalone Financial Statements as a wholeare free from material misstatement, whether due to fraudor error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes ouropinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance butis not guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance withSAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are consideredmaterial if, individually or in aggregate, they could reasonablybe expected to influence the economic decisions of users takenon the basis of these Standalone Financial Statements.
As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exerciseprofessional judgment and maintain professional skepticismthroughout the audit. We also:
• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement ofthe Standalone Financial Statements, whether due to fraudor error, design and perform audit procedures responsiveto those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficientand appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk
of not detecting a material misstatement resulting fromfraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraudmay involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions,misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
• Obtain an understanding of internal financial controlsrelevant to the audit in order to design audit proceduresthat are appropriate in the circumstances. Under section143(3)(i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressingour opinion on whether the Company has an adequateinternal financial controls system in place and theoperating effectiveness of such controls.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies usedand the reasonableness of accounting estimates andrelated disclosures made by management.
• Conclude on the appropriateness of management's use ofthe going concern basis of accounting and, based on theaudit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertaintyexists related to events or conditions that may castsignificant doubt on the Company's ability to continue as agoing concern. If we conclude that a material uncertaintyexists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor'sreport to the related disclosures in the StandaloneFinancial Statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate,to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on theaudit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor'sreport. However, future events or conditions may causethe Company to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and contentof the Standalone Financial Statements, including thedisclosures, and whether the Standalone FinancialStatements represent the underlying transactions andevents in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
We communicate with those charged with governanceregarding, among other matters, the planned scope andtiming of the audit and significant audit findings, includingany significant deficiencies in internal control that we identifyduring our audit.
We also provide those charged with governance with astatement that we have complied with relevant ethicalrequirements regarding independence, and to communicatewith them all relationships and other matters that mayreasonably be thought to bear on our independence, andwhere applicable, related safeguards.
From the matters communicated with those charged withgovernance, we determine those matters that were of mostsignificance in the audit of the Standalone Financial Statementsof the current period and are therefore the key audit matters.We describe these matters in our auditor's report unless lawor regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter orwhen, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that amatter should not be communicated in our report becausethe adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably
be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits ofsuch communication.
1. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, based on our
audit we report that:
a) We have sought and obtained all the information andexplanations which to the best of our knowledge andbelief were necessary for the purposes of our audit.
b) In our opinion, proper books of account as requiredby law have been kept by the Company so far as itappears from our examination of those books.
c) The Balance Sheet, the Statement of Profit and Lossincluding Other Comprehensive Income, Statementof Changes in Equity and the Statement of CashFlows dealt with by this Report are in agreementwith the books of account.
d) In our opinion, the aforesaid Standalone FinancialStatements comply with the Ind AS specified underSection 133 of the Act.
e) On the basis of the written representations receivedfrom the directors as on March 31, 2025, takenon record by the Board of Directors, none of thedirectors is disqualified as on March 31, 2025 frombeing appointed as a director in terms of Section 164(2) of the Act.
f) With respect to the adequacy of internal financialcontrol over financial reporting of the Company andthe operating effectiveness of such controls, referto our separate Report in "Annexure A'. Our reportexpresses an unmodified opinion on the adequacyand operating effectiveness of the Company'sinternal financial control over financial reporting.
g) With respect to the other matters to be includedin the Auditor's Report in accordance with therequirements of section 197(16) of the Act,as amended:
In our opinion and to the best of our informationand according to the explanations given to us, theremuneration paid by the Company to its Chairman,Managing Director and Whole-time directors duringthe year is in accordance with the provisions ofsection 197 of the Act.
h) With respect to the other matters to be includedin the Auditor's Report in accordance with Rule 11of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014,as amended in our opinion and to the best of ourinformation and according to the explanations givento us:
i. The Company has disclosed the impact ofpending litigations on its financial position in its
Standalone Financial Statements. Refer: Note37 to the Standalone Financial Statements.
ii. The Company did not have any long¬term contracts, including derivativecontracts for which there were any materialforeseeable losses.
iii. There has been no delay in transferringamounts required to be transferred, to theInvestor Education and Protection Fund bythe Company.
iv. (a) The management has represented that,
to the best of its knowledge and belief,no funds (which are material eitherindividually or in the aggregate) havebeen advanced or loaned or invested(either from borrowed funds or sharepremium or any other sources or kindof funds) by the Company to or in anyother person or entity, including foreignentity ("Intermediaries"), which theunderstanding, whether recorded inwriting or otherwise, that the Intermediaryshall, whether, directly or indirectly lendor invest in other persons or entitiesidentified in any manner whatsoever byor on behalf of the Company ("UltimateBeneficiaries") or provide any guarantee,security or the like on behalf of theUltimate Beneficiaries;
(b) The Management has represented, that,to the best of its knowledge and belief,no funds (which are material eitherindividually or in the aggregate) havebeen received by the Company fromany person or entity, including foreignentity ("Funding Parties"), with theunderstanding, whether recorded inwriting or otherwise, that the Companyshall, whether, directly or indirectly, lendor invest in other persons or entitiesidentified in any manner whatsoeverby or on behalf of the Funding Party("Ultimate Beneficiaries") or provide anyguarantee, security or the like on behalfof the Ultimate Beneficiaries;
(c) Based on the audit procedures thathave been considered reasonable andappropriate in the circumstances, nothinghas come to our notice that has caused usto believe that the representations undersub-clause (i) and (ii) of Rule 11(e), asprovided under (a) and (b) above, containany material misstatement.
v. The interim dividend declared and paid by theCompany during the year is in accordance withSection 123 of the Act, as applicable.
vi. Based on our examination which included testchecks, the Company has used accountingsoftware for maintaining its books of accountwhich has a feature of recording audit trail(edit log) facility and the same has operatedthroughout the year for all relevant transactionsrecorded in the software. Further, during thecourse of our audit we did not come across anyinstance of audit trail feature being tamperedwith. The audit trail has been preserved by theCompany as per the statutory requirements forrecord retention.
2. As required by the Companies (Auditor's Report) Order,2020 ("the Order") issued by the Central Government ofIndia in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act,we give in the "Annexure - B", a statement on the mattersspecified in the paragraph 3 and 4 of the order.
Chartered AccountantsICAI Firm Registration No. 106041W/W100136
Partner
Place: Ahmedabad Membership No. 030083
Date: May 29, 2025 UDIN: 25030083BMHTKB6390