Auditor Report of Jagran Prakashan Ltd.

Mar 31, 2025

1. We have audited the accompanying standalone financial
statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited (“the Company”),
which comprise the Standalone Balance Sheet as at
March 31, 2025, and the Standalone Statement of Profit
and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the
Standalone Statement of Changes in Equity and the
Standalone Statement of Cash Flows, and notes to the
financial statements, including material accounting policy
information or and other explanatory information.

2. In our opinion and to the best of our information and
according to the explanations given to us, 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 accounting principles generally
accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company
as at March 31, 2025 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

3. 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 “Auditor’s responsibilities 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 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 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.

Emphasis of Matter

4. We draw your attention to note 24(v) of standalone
financial statements, which describe a petition under
Sections 241, 242 and 244 of the Act 2013 filed by certain
promoter and promoter group members against the other
promoter and promoter group members of the Company,
which is pending with National Company Law Tribunal
(‘NCLT’). As stated in the said note, the management at
present does not expect any impact of this matter on the
Company. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this
matter.

Key audit matters

5. Key audit matters are those matters that, in our
professional judgement, 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 :

Key audit matter

How our audit addressed the key audit matter

Recoverability of Trade Receivables (Refer Notes 5(b) and 30 of the standalone financial statements) Recovery of Trade Receivables The standalone financial statements of the Company includes trade receivable of '' 34,914.12 lakhs as at March 31, 2025, net of allowances for impairment amounting to '' 10,459.25 lakhs. Management estimated the level of expected losses, by assessing future cash flows for each group of trade receivables based on twelve month rolling historical credit loss experience by tenure and applying this to the receivables held at year end. The impact of both current and future economic factors are considered in assessing the likelihood of recovery from customers. This matter was identified as a key audit matter due to the significant management judgement involved.

Our audit procedures included the following: • Obtained an understanding of the internal processes for evaluating the recoverability of trade receivables including collection process and the allowances for impaired trade receivables. • Tested the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of relevant internal controls relating to recoverability of trade receivables including collection process and the calculation of the allowance for such trade receivables. • Evaluated reasonableness of the method and assumptions and judgements used by the management with respect to recoverability of trade receivables. • Assessed the profile of trade receivables and the economic environment applicable to these debtors.

Key audit matter	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
	•	Evaluated the simplified approach applied by the Company to identify lifetime expected credit losses. In doing so, obtained the schedule of receivables ageing, enquired into aged balances and assessed management''s explanation for collectability. Also tested the management''s working for provision for expected credit losses.
	•	Verified receipts from debtors subsequent to the financial year-end relating to trade receivable balances as at March 31, 2025 with bank statements and relevant underlying documentation for selected samples.
	•	Reviewed the accuracy of management''s judgement by comparing historical provisions against actual write-off.
	•	Evaluated the appropriateness of the presentation and disclosures made in the standalone financial statements.
Assessment of impairment of cash generating units (CGUs)	Our audit procedures included the following:
(Refer Note 3(a), 3(b), 3(d) and 4 of the standalone financial statements)	•	Understood and evaluated the process and controls designed and implemented by the Management to assess the potential impairment of CGUs and tested the
The Company carries its property, plant and equipment (PP&E), right-of-use assets, investment in subsidiaries, associates and intangible assets including goodwill at cost less accumulated depreciation/ amortisation and impairment losses.	•	operating effectiveness of controls. Evaluated the appropriateness of the Company''s accounting policies in respect of impairment assessment of the assets.
As of March 31, 2025, the net assets of the Company exceed its	•	Assessed appropriateness of determination of CGUs in
market capitalisation. This reduction in market capitalisation is		line with the requirements of Ind AS 36 considering the
an indication of impairment to the PP&E, right-of-use assets and		nature of the operations of the Company, MBL, MIL and
intangible assets including goodwill and triggered the requirement for the Company to assess the recoverable amount of cash-		Leet.
generating units (CGUs) to which these assets belong.	•	With the involvement of the auditor''s expert, evaluated the appropriateness of the key assumptions underlying
Further, the market capitalisation of one listed subsidiary, Music Broadcast Limited (“MBL”) fluctuated during the year and was lower than the carrying amount of its net assets as of March 31, 2025, and another subsidiary, Midday Infomedia Limited (“MIL”) has been incurring operating losses in prior as well as the current year. Furthermore, the carrying value of investment of one associate,		the cash flow projections including growth and discount rates used within the discounted cash flow model with specific focus on forecast revenue compared to readily available market information and underlying macroeconomic factors. Performed sensitivity analysis on the projections by varying key assumptions, within reasonably foreseeable
Leet OOH Media Private Limited (“Leet”), exceeded the Company''s share in its net assets. These factors indicate potential impairment
loss to the carrying value of investments in these entities.		range.
	•	Compared the carrying amount of the net assets with the
The management has used discounted cash flow models to determine the value in use of the CGUs to which the aforementioned assets belong. This requires significant judgement regarding key		estimated cash flows determined by the management for respective entities.
inputs, such as the appropriate discount rate and future cash flows.	•	Assessed the adequacy of disclosures made in the standalone financial statements.
Based on management''s assessment and future business forecast, the recoverable amount of these CGUs, exceeds their carrying value. Consequently, no impairment provision has been recognised in this regard, except in respect of the investment in MIL, where impairment loss to the extent of the difference between carrying amount and recoverable amount has been recognised as per Ind AS 36 ‘Impairment of Assets’.
We considered this a key audit matter because significant judgement and management estimates are involved regarding impairment assessment.

Other Information

6. The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for
the other information. The other information comprises
the information included in the annual report but does
not include the standalone financial statements and our
auditor’s report thereon.

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 and, in doing so, consider whether the other
information is materially inconsistent with the standalone
financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the
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 this other information,
we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Responsibilities of management and those charged

with governance for the standalone financial

statements

7. 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, changes in equity and cash flows
of the Company in accordance with the accounting
principles generally accepted in India, including the
Indian 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 standalone financial statements
that give a true and fair view and are free from material
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

8. In preparing the standalone financial statements, 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 management
either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease
operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

9. Those Board of Directors are also responsible for
overseeing the Company’s financial reporting process.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the

standalone financial statements

10. 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.

11. As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise
professional judgement and maintain professional
scepticism 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 control 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 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 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 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

Report on other legal and regulatory requirements

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

16. 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.

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

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial
statements comply with the Indian 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, 2025 , taken
on record by the Board of Directors, none of the
directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2025, 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”.

(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) 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
24 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company was not required to recognise
a provision as at March 31, 2025 under the
applicable law or Indian Accounting Standards,
as it does not have any material foreseeable
losses on long-term contract. The Company
did not have any derivative contracts as at
March 31, 2025.

iii. There has been no delay in transferring
amounts, required to be transferred, to the
Investor Education and Protection Fund by the
Company during the year.

iv. (a) The management has represented

that, to the best of its knowledge and
belief, as disclosed in Note 35 (xiii) to
the standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note 35(xiii)
to the standalone financial statements);

(b) The management has represented that,
to the best of its knowledge and belief,
as disclosed in the Note 35(xiv) to the
standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note
35(xiv) to the financial statements); and

(c) Based on such audit procedures that we
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 (a) and (b) contain any material
misstatement.

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.

As stated in note 31(b) to the financial
statements, the Board of Directors of the
Company have proposed interim dividend
for the year.The dividend declared is in
accordance with section 123 of the Act to the
extent it applies to declaration of dividend.

vi. checks, the Company has used an accounting
software for maintaining its books of account
which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit
log) facility and that has operated throughout
the year for all relevant transactions recorded in
the software. During the course of our audit, we
did not notice any instance of audit trail feature
being tampered with. Further, the audit trail has
been preserved by the Company as per the
statutory requirements for record retention.

17. The Company has paid/ provided for managerial
remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals
mandated by the provisions of Section 197 read with
Schedule V to the Act.

For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: 012754N/N500016

Rahul Chattopadhyay

Partner

Membership Number: 096367

UDIN: 25096367BMLJKY6238

Place: Kanpur

Date: May 24, 2025

---

Mar 31, 2024

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

2. In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, 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 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

3. 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 “Auditor’s Responsibilities 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 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 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.

Emphasis of Matter

4. We draw your attention to Note 25(v) of the standalone financial statements, which describes a petition under Sections 241, 242 and 244 of the Companies Act, 2013 filed by certain promoter and promoter group members against the other promoters and promoter group members of the Company, which is pending with the National Company Law Tribunal (‘NCLT’). As stated in the said note, the management at present does not expect any impact of this matter on the Company. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.

Key audit matters

5. Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, 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 :

Key audit matter

How our audit addressed the key audit matter

Recoverability of Trade Receivables (Refer Notes 5(b) and 31 of the standalone financial statements) The standalone financial statements of the Company includes trade receivable of '' 38,833.43 lakhs as at March 31,2024, net of allowances for impairment amounting to '' 10,151.82 lakhs. Management estimated the level of expected losses, by assessing future cash flows for each group of trade receivables based on twelve month rolling historical credit loss experience by tenure and applying to the receivables held at year end. The impact of economic factors both current and future is considered in assessing the likelihood of recovery from customers. This matter was identified as a key audit matter due to the involvement of significant management judgement.

Our audit procedures included the following: • Obtained an understanding of the internal processes for evaluating the recoverability of trade receivables including collection process and the allowances for impaired trade receivables. • Tested the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of relevant internal controls relating to recoverability of trade receivables including collection process and the calculation of the allowance for such trade receivables. • Evaluated reasonableness of the method and assumptions and judgements used by the management with respect to recoverability of trade receivables. • Assessed the profile of trade receivables and the economic environment applicable to these debtors. • Evaluated the simplified approach applied by the Company to identify lifetime expected credit losses. In doing so, obtained the schedule of receivables ageing, enquired into aged balances and assessed management''s explanation for collectability. Also tested the management''s working for provision for expected credit losses.

Key audit matter	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Revenue Recognition as per Ind AS 115	• Verified receipts from debtors subsequent to the financial year-end relating to trade receivable balances as at March 31, 2024 with bank statements and relevant underlying documentation for selected samples. • Reviewed the accuracy of management''s judgement by comparing historical provisions against actual write-off. • Evaluated the appropriateness of the presentation and disclosures made in the standalone financial Statements. Based on the procedures as mentioned above management''s assessment regarding the recoverability of trade receivables appears to be reasonable. Our audit procedures included the following:
(Refer Note 15 of the standalone financial statements)	• We evaluated the design and tested operating
The Company''s revenue for the year ended March 31, 2024	effectiveness of the relevant controls with respect to revenue recognition.
is '' 164,067.31 lakhs. The Company recognises revenue from sale of products and services in accordance with the	• We assessed the appropriateness of the revenue
accounting principles prescribed under Ind AS 115, Revenue	recognition accounting policy in line with Ind AS 115.
from contracts with customers. Revenue is recognised when the company satisfies a	• We performed substantive testing of revenue transactions on a sample basis, recorded during the year by testing the
performance obligation by transferring control of the	underlying documents which included contracts with the
products or services being provided to the customer.	customers, release orders, customer purchase orders and
The control in respect of revenue from advertisement is	customer acknowledgments, as applicable.
considered transferred when advertisement is published in the newspaper, revenue from newspapers and magazines	• We assessed the different types of performance obligations
when they are dispatched which coincides with transfer of	agreed by the Company with its customers to evaluate the
control of products to the customer, revenue from services	timing of revenue recognition in respect of various revenue
of outdoor activities is recognised as and when the control of	streams.
products or service is transferred to the customer being the time over which advertisement is displayed and revenue from	• We tested, on a sample basis, specific revenue
	transactions recorded, before and after the financial year
event management and activation services is recognised when the control of products or service is transferred to the	end date, by testing the underlying invoices and customer
customer being the time over which, the event is completed.	acknowledgements, as applicable.
Revenue is measured at the transaction price, which is consideration, received or receivable, net of trade discounts,	• We examined, on a sample basis, credit notes issued after
	the year end, wherever applicable to determine whether
volume rebates, and taxes or duties collected.	the revenue has been recognised in the appropriate
We identified revenue recognition as a key audit matter as revenue is significant to the standalone financial statements and considering the extent of audit effort involved.	financial period. • We have tested a sample of revenue adjustment manual journal entries recorded by the Company to identify
	unusual items, if any. Based on the above procedures performed, no significant exception was noted by us in the revenue recognised by the Company during the year.

Key audit matter	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Assessment of impairment of investment in subsidiaries	Our audit procedures included the following:
and associates	• Understood and evaluated the process and controls
(Refer Note 4 of the standalone financial statements) The	designed and implemented by the Management to assess
Company''s investment in subsidiaries and associates. The market capitalisation of one subsidiary, Music Broadcast	the potential impairment of investments in subsidiaries and associates.
Limited(“MBL”) fluctuated during the year and was lower than	• Assessed appropriateness of determination of cash
the carrying amount of its net assets for part of the year. This	generating unit (CGU) in line with the requirements of Ind
reduction in market capitalization triggered the requirement	AS 36 Impairment of Assets considering the nature of the
to assess the need for recognition of potential impairment	operations of MBL, MIL and Leet respectively.
loss.	• Involvement of the auditor''s expert and evaluation of the
Also, another subsidiary, Midday Infomedia Limited(MIL)	appropriateness of the key assumptions underlying the
has been in continuous operating losses in past years	cash flow projections including growth and discount rates
and just turned profitable in the current year indicating the	used within the discounted cash flow model with specific
requirement to assess the carrying value of the investment	focus on forecast revenue compared to readily available
in MIL for potential impairment.	market information and underlying macroeconomic factors.
Additionally, the carrying value of investment of one of	• Performed sensitivity analysis on the projections by
the associates of the Company, Leet OOH Media Private	varying key assumptions, within reasonably foreseeable
Limited(Leet), was more than Company''s share in the net assets of these associates indicating potential impairment.	range. • Comparison of carrying value of the net assets with the
The management has used discounted cash flow models	estimated cash flows determined by the management for
to assess the value in use of its investments in the above-mentioned subsidiaries and the associate which require use	entities respectively.
of significant judgement in respect of certain key inputs like	• Evaluated the appropriateness of the Company''s
determining an appropriate discount rate, future cash flows	accounting policies in respect of impairment assessment
etc.	of the investments.
Based on the management''s assessment and future	• Assessed the adequacy of disclosures made in the
forecast of business conditions, the recoverable amount of these investments are higher than their carrying value, and	standalone financial statements.
accordingly no impairment provision has been recognized	Based on the above procedures performed, no significant
in this regard.	exception was noted by us in the assessment of impairment of investment in subsidiaries and associate performed by
We considered this a key audit matter since significant judgement and management estimates were involved around impairment assessment.	the management.

Other Information

6. The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon.

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 and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the standalone financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the 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 this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Responsibilities of management and those charged with

governance for the Standalone Financial Statements

7. 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, 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 standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

8. In preparing the standalone financial statements, management 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 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

Standalone Financial Statements

9. 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.

10. As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism 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 control 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 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

Report on other legal and regulatory requirements

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

15. 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.

(c) The Standalone Balance Sheet, the Standalone Statement of Profit and Loss (including other

comprehensive income), the Standalone Statement of Changes in Equity and the Standalone Statement of Cash Flows dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account.

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone 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 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”.

(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) 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 in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 25 to the standalone financial statements;

ii. The Company was not required to recognise a provision as at March 31, 2024 under the applicable law or accounting standards, as it does not have any material foreseeable losses on long-term contract. The Company did not have any derivative contracts as at March 31, 2024.

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company during the year ended March 31, 2024. Refer Note 35 to standalone financial statements.

iv. (a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in Note 36(xiii) to the standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note 36(xiii) to the standalone financial statements;)

(b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in the Note 36(xiv) to the standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note 36(xiv) to the standalone financial statements) ; and

(c) Based on such audit procedures that we 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 (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

v. The Company has not declared or paid any dividend during the year.

vi. Based on our examination, which included test checks, the company has used an accounting software for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail (edit log) facility and that has operated throughout the year for all relevant transactions recorded in the software. Further, during the course of our audit we did not notice any instance of audit trail feature being tampered with.

16. The Company has paid/ provided for managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: 012754N/N500016

Rahul Chattopadhyay

Partner

Membership Number: 096367

UDIN: 24096367BKHHIJ5295

Place: Kanpur

Date: May 28, 2024

---

Mar 31, 2023

We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited (“the Company”), which comprise the Standalone Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2023, and the Standalone Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Standalone Statement of Changes in Equity and the Standalone Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended, and notes to the Standalone financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

I n our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, 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 accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2023, 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

3. 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 “Auditor’s responsibilities 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 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 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 matters

4. Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, 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.

Key audit matter	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Recoverability of trade receivables (Refer Notes 1(l), 5(b) and 31 of the standalone financial statements)	Our audit procedures included the following: • Obtained an understanding of the internal processes for evaluating the recoverability of trade receivables including collection process and the
	allowances for impaired trade receivables.
The standalone financial statements of the	• Tested the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of
Company includes trade receivable of ''36,129.37	relevant internal controls relating to recoverability of trade receivables
Lakhs as at March 31,2023, net of allowances for	including collection process and the calculation of the allowance for
impairment amounting to ''9,745.89 Lakhs.	such trade receivables.
Management estimated the level of expected losses, by assessing future cash flows for each group of trade receivables based on twelve month rolling historical credit loss experience by tenure and applying to the receivables held at year end. The impact of economic factors both current and future is considered in assessing the likelihood of recovery from customers. This matter was identified as a key audit matter due to the involvement of significant management judgement.	• Evaluated reasonableness of the method and assumptions and judgements used by the management with respect to recoverability of trade receivables. • Assessed the profile of trade receivables and the economic environment applicable to these debtors. • Evaluated the simplified approach applied by the Company to identify lifetime expected credit losses. In doing so, obtained the schedule of receivables ageing, enquired into aged balances and assessed management’s explanation for collectability. Also tested the management’s working for provision for expected credit losses. • Verified receipts from debtors subsequent to the financial year-end
	relating to trade receivable balances as at March 31, 2023 with bank statements and relevant underlying documentation for selected samples.
	• Reviewing the accuracy of management’s judgement by comparing historical provisions against actual write-off. • Evaluated the appropriateness of the presentation and disclosures made
	in the consolidated financial statements.
	Based on the procedures as mentioned above management’s assessment regarding the recoverability of trade receivables appears to be reasonable.

Key audit matter	How our audit addressed the key audit matter
Revenue recognition as per Ind AS 115	Our audit procedures included the following:
(Refer Notes 1(d) and 15 of the standalone	• We evaluated the design and tested operating effectiveness of the
financial statements).	relevant controls with respect to revenue recognition.
The Company’s revenue for the year ended March 31,2023 is ''159,390.34 Lakhs. The Company	• We assessed the appropriateness of the revenue recognition accounting policy in line with Ind AS 115. • We performed substantive testing of revenue transactions on a sample
recognises revenue from sale of products and services in accordance with the accounting principles prescribed under Ind AS 115, Revenue from contracts with customers.	basis, recorded during the year by testing the underlying documents which included contracts with the customers, release orders, customer purchase orders and customer acknowledgments, as applicable.
	• We assessed the different types of performance obligations agreed
Revenue is recognised when the company	by the Company with its customers to evaluate the timing of revenue
satisfies a performance obligation by transferring	recognition in respect of various revenue streams.
control of the products or services being provided	• We tested, on a sample basis, specific revenue transactions recorded,
to the customer. The control in respect of revenue	before and after the financial year end date, by testing the underlying
from advertisement is considered transferred	invoices and customer acknowledgements, as applicable.
when advertisement is published in the paper,	• We examined, on a sample basis, credit notes issued after the year
revenue from newspapers and magazines when	end, wherever applicable to determine whether the revenue has been
they are dispatched which coincides with transfer	recognised in the appropriate financial period.
of control of products to the customer, revenue	• We have tested a sample of revenue adjustment manual journal entries
from services of outdoor activities is recognised	recorded by the Company to identify unusual items, if any.
as and when the control of products or service is transferred to the customer being the point advertisement is displayed and revenue from event management and activation services is recognised when the control of products or service is transferred to the customer being the point when, the event is completed.	Based on the above procedures performed, no significant exception was noted by us in the revenue recognised by the Company during the year.
Revenue is measured at the transaction price, which is consideration, received or receivable, net of trade discounts, volume rebates, and taxes or duties collected.
We identified revenue recognition as a key audit matter as revenue is significant to the standalone financial statements and considering the extent of audit effort involved.
Assessment of impairment of investment in	Our audit procedures included the following:
subsidiaries and associates	• Understanding and evaluating the process and controls designed and
(Refer Notes 1(n),1(o) and 4 of the standalone	implemented by the Management to assess the potential impairment of
financial statements) The Company’s investment	investments in subsidiaries and associates.
in subsidiaries and associates.	• Assessing appropriateness of determination of cash generating unit
As at March 31, 2023, the market capitalisation of Music Broadcast Limited (subsidiary of the Company) (MBL) was lower than its net assets	(CGU) in line with the requirements of Ind AS 36 Impairment of Assets considering the nature of the operations of MBL, MIL, Leet and MMI respectively. • Involvement of the auditor’s expert and Evaluation of the appropriateness
value. This reduction in market capitalisation triggered the requirement to assess the carrying value of the investment in MBL for potential impairment.	of the key assumptions underlying the cash flow projections including growth and discount rates used within the discounted cash flow model with specific focus on forecast revenue compared to readily available market information and underlying macroeconomic factors.
Also, another subsidiary, Midday Infomedia	• Performing sensitivity analysis on the projections by varying key
Limited(MIL) has been in continuous operating	assumptions, within reasonably foreseeable range.
losses indicating the requirement to assess	• Comparison of carrying value of the net assets with the estimated cash
the carrying value of the investment in MIL for	flows determined by the management for entities respectively.
potential impairment.	• Evaluating the appropriateness of the Company’s accounting policies in
Additionally, the carrying value of investments of two of the associates of the Company, Leet	respect of impairment assessment of the investments. • Assessing the adequacy of disclosures made in the financial statements.
OOH Media Private Limited(Leet) and MMI Online	Based on the above procedures performed, no significant exception was
Limited (MMI), was more than Company’s share	noted by us in the assessment of impairment of investment in subsidiaries
in the net assets of these associates indicating potential impairment.	and associates performed by the management.

Key audit matter How our audit addressed the key audit matter The management has used discounted cash flow models to assess the value in use of its investments in the above-mentioned subsidiaries and associates which require use of significant judgement in respect of certain key inputs like determining an appropriate discount rate, future cash flows etc. Based on the management’s assessment and future forecast of business conditions, the recoverable amount of these investments (except for MMI) are higher than their carrying value, and accordingly no impairment provision has been recognized in this regard. In respect of MMI, the management has decided to impair the entire carrying value of the investment basis its analysis. We considered this a key audit matter since significant judgement and management estimates were involved around impairment assessment.

Other Information

5. The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, but does not include the standalone financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. 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 and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the standalone financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the 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 this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Responsibilities of management and those charged with

governance for the standalone financial statements

6. 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, 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 standalone financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

7. In preparing the standalone financial statements, management 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 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 standalone

financial statements

8. 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.

9. As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism 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 control 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 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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 Matter

13. The standalone financial statements of the Company for the year ended March 31, 2022, were audited by another firm of chartered accountants under the Act who, vide their report dated May 30, 2022, expressed an unmodified opinion on those standalone financial statements.

Report on other legal and regulatory requirements

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

15. 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 .

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

(d) I n our opinion, the aforesaid standalone 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, 2023, taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2023, 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”.

(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) 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 25 to the standalone financial statements.

ii. The Company was not required to recognise a provision as at March 31,2023 under the applicable law or accounting standards, as it does not have any material foreseeable losses on long-term contract. The Company did not have any derivative contracts as at March 31,2023.

iii. There has been no delay in transferring amounts, required to be transferred, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company during the year. Refer Note 35 to the standalone financial statements.

iv. (a) The management has represented that,

to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in the notes to the standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note 37(xiii) to the standalone financial statements);

(b) The management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, as disclosed in the notes to the standalone 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, 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 (Refer Note 37(xiv) to the standalone financial statements); and

(c) Based on such audit procedures that we considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under subclause (a) and (b) contain any material misstatement.

v. The dividend declared and paid during the year by the Company is in compliance with Section 123 of the Act.

vi. As proviso to Rule 3(1) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 (as amended), which provides for the feature of recording of audit trail (edit log) facility in the accounting software used by the Company for maintenance of books of account and related matters, is applicable for the Company only with effect from financial year beginning April 1, 2023, the reporting under clause (g) of Rule 11 is currently not applicable.

16. The Company has paid/ provided for managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: 012754N/N500016

Rahul Chattopadhyay

Partner

Membership Number: 096367

UDIN: 23096367BGYYHH2681

Place: Kanpur

Date: May 30, 2023

---

Mar 31, 2018

Report on the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying standalone Ind AS financial statements of JAGRAN PRAKASHAN LIMITED (“the Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2018, and the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management’s Responsibility for the Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements

The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”) with respect to the preparation of these standalone Ind AS 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 Indian Accounting Standards (“Ind AS”) prescribed under section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended, 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 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 standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone Ind AS financial statements based on our audit.

In conducting our audit, we have taken into account the provisions of the Act, the accounting and auditing standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report under the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder and the Order issued under section 143(11) of the Act.

We conducted our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the standalone Ind AS financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company’s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence obtained by us is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the Ind AS and other accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2018, and its profit, total comprehensive income, its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

Other Matters

The comparative financial information of the Company for the year ended March 31, 2017 prepared in accordance with Ind AS included in these Standalone Ind AS Financial Statements have been audited by the predecessor auditor. The report of the predecessor auditor on comparative financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2017 dated May 29, 2017 expressed an unqualified opinion. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. 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.

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

d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements comply with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under section 133 of the Act.

e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors of the Company as on March 31, 2018 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2018 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 over financial reporting 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 over financial reporting.

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) 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 Ind AS financial statements - Refer note 24 to the standalone Ind AS financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses - Refer note 35 to the standalone Ind AS financial statements;

iii. There has been no delay in transferring amounts, required to be transferred, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company - Refer note 36 to the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

2. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2016 (“the Order”/”CARO 2016”) 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.

“ANNEXURE A” TO THE INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

(Referred to in paragraph 1(f) under ‘Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements’ section of our report of even date)

Report on the Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting under Clause (i) of Subsection 3 of Section 143 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”)

We have audited the internal financial controls over financial reporting ofJAGRAN PRAKASHAN LIMITED (“the Company”) as of March 31, 2018 in conjunction with our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements of the Company for the year ended on that date.

Management’s Responsibility for Internal Financial Controls

The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal financial controls based on the internal control over financial reporting criteria established by the Company considering the essential components of internal control stated in the Guidance Note on Audit of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. These responsibilities include the design, implementation and maintenance of adequate internal financial controls that were operating effectively for ensuring the orderly and efficient conduct of its business, including adherence to company’s policies, the safeguarding of its assets, the prevention and detection of frauds and errors, the accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, and the timely preparation of reliable financial information, as required under the Companies Act, 2013.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the internal financial controls over financial reporting of the Company based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Guidance Note on Audit of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting (the “Guidance Note”) issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Standards on Auditing prescribed under Section 143(10) of the Companies Act, 2013, to the extent applicable to an audit of internal financial controls. Those Standards and the Guidance Note require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether adequate internal financial controls over financial reporting was established and maintained and if such controls operated effectively in all material respects.

Our audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the adequacy of the internal financial controls system over financial reporting and their operating effectiveness. Our audit of internal financial controls over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal financial controls over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the Company’s internal financial controls system over financial reporting.

Meaning of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal financial control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal financial control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorisations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorised acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Inherent Limitations of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting

Because of the inherent limitations of internal financial controls over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any evaluation of the internal financial controls over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the internal financial control over financial reporting may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Opinion

In our opinion, to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the Company has, in all material respects, an adequate internal financial controls system over financial reporting and such internal financial controls over financial reporting were operating effectively as at March 31, 2018, based on the criteria for internal financial control over financial reporting established by the Company considering the essential components of internal control stated in the Guidance Note on Audit of Internal Financial Controls Over Financial Reporting issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

“ANNEXURE B” TO THE INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

(Referred to in paragraph 2 under ‘Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements’ section of our report of even date)

i. In respect of its property, plant and equipment:

a. The Company has maintained proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation of property, plant and equipment.

b. The Company has a program of verification of property, plant and equipment to cover all the items in a phased manner over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the program, certain property, plant and equipment were physically verified by the Management during the year. According to the information and explanations given to us, no material discrepancies were noticed on such verification.

c. The title deeds of immovable properties, as disclosed in Note 3(a) on property, plant and equipment to the financial statements, are held in the name of Company except for immovable properties acquired pursuant to the Scheme of Amalgamation in earlier years, comprising seven cases of leasehold land and building having gross value of Rs.789.08 Lakhs and net value of Rs.582.68 Lakhs for which the lease agreements are yet to be registered in the name of the Company, and five cases of freehold land and building having gross value of Rs.836.35 Lakhs and net value of Rs.631.20 Lakhs for which title is yet to be registered in the name of the Company.

Immovable properties of land and buildings, whose title deeds have been mortgaged as security for cash credit facility from a bank are held in the name of the Company based on the confirmation directly received by us from bank.

ii. The physical verification of inventory excluding stocks with third parties have been conducted at reasonable intervals by the management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third party, this has been confirmed by it. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

iii. The Company has not granted any loans, secured or unsecured, to companies, firms, Limited Liability Partnerships or parties covered in the register maintained under section 189 of the Companies Act, 2013.

iv. I n our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has complied with the provisions of Sections 185 and 186 of the Companies Act, 2013 in respect of grant of loans, making investments and providing guarantees and securities, as applicable.

v. According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not accepted any deposit from the public. The Company does not have any unclaimed deposits and accordingly the provisions of Sections 73 to 76 or any other relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 are not applicable to the Company.

vi. The maintenance of cost records has not been specified by the Central Government under section 148(1) of the Companies Act, 2013.

vii. According to the information and explanations given to us in respect of statutory dues:

a. The Company has generally been regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Income-tax, Sales Tax, Service Tax, Goods and Service Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty, Value Added Tax, Cess and other material statutory dues applicable to it to the appropriate authorities.

b. There were no undisputed amounts payable in respect of Provident Fund, Employees’ State Insurance, Income-tax, Sales Tax, Service Tax, Goods and Service Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty, Value Added Tax, Cess and other material statutory dues in arrears as at March 31, 2018 for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable.

c. There are no dues of Income-tax, Sales Tax, Service Tax, Goods and Service Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty and Value Added Tax as on March 31, 2018 on account of disputes.

viii. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not defaulted in the repayment of loans or borrowings to banks and dues to debenture holders. The Company has not taken any loans or borrowings from financial institutions and government.

ix. The Company has not raised moneys by way of initial public offer or further public offer (including debt instruments) or term loans and hence reporting under clause (ix) of the CARO 2016 is not applicable.

x. To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanations given to us, no fraud by the Company and no material fraud on the Company by its officers or employees has been noticed or reported during the year.

xi. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has paid/provided managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of section 197 read with Schedule V to the Companies Act, 2013.

xii. The Company is not a Nidhi Company and hence reporting under clause (xii) of the CARO 2016 is not applicable.

xiii. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us the Company is in compliance with Section 177 and 188 of the Companies Act, 2013, where applicable, for all transactions with the related parties and the details of related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial statements etc. as required by the applicable accounting standards.

xiv. During the year the Company has not made any preferential allotment or private placement of shares or fully or partly convertible debentures and hence reporting under clause (xiv) of CARO 2016 is not applicable to the Company.

xv. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, during the year the Company has not entered into any non-cash transactions with its directors or directors of its holding, subsidiary or associate Company, as applicable, or persons connected with them and hence provisions of section 192 of the Companies Act, 2013 are not applicable.

xvi. The Company is not required to be registered under section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

For Deloitte Haskins & Sells

Chartered Accountants

(Firm’s Registration No. 302009E)

Alka Chadha

Place: New Delhi Partner

Date: May 25, 2018 (Membership No. 93474)

---

Mar 31, 2017

REPORT ON THE STANDALONE INDIAN ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (IND AS) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited (“the Company”), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2017, the Statement of Profit and Loss (including Other Comprehensive Income), the Cash Flow Statement and the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

MANAGEMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE STANDALONE IND AS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

2. The Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”) with respect to the preparation of these standalone Ind AS financial statements to 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 the Indian Accounting Standards specified in the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 (as amended) 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 standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

AUDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITY

3. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone Ind AS financial statements based on our audit.

4. We have taken into account the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder including the accounting and auditing standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report under the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder.

5. We conducted our audit of the standalone Ind AS financial statements in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act and other applicable authoritative pronouncements issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards and pronouncements require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the standalone Ind AS financial statements are free from material misstatement.

6. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the standalone Ind AS financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors’ judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the standalone Ind AS financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements that give a true and fair view, in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company’s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

7. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone Ind AS financial statements.

OPINION

8. In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements give the information required by the Act 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 March 31, 2017, and its total comprehensive income (comprising profit and other comprehensive income), its cash flows and the changes in equity for the year ended on that date.

EMPHASIS OF MATTER

9. We draw your attention to Note 35(a) and 35(b) to the financial statements in respect of the Composite Scheme of Arrangement and the Scheme of Amalgamation (“the Schemes”). The Company has applied the accounting treatment as per AS-14: Accounting for Amalgamations under the Companies Accounting Standard Rules 2006 (as amended), as prescribed in the Schemes approved by the Hon’ble High Court of Allahabad and Hon’ble High Court of Mumbai.

OTHER MATTER

10. The financial information of the Company for the year ended March 31, 2016 and the transition date opening balance sheet as at April 1, 2015 included in these standalone Ind AS financial statements, are based on the previously issued statutory financial statements for the years ended March 31, 2016 and March 31, 2015 prepared in accordance with the Companies (Accounting Standards) Rules, 2006 (as amended) which were audited by us, on which we expressed an unmodified opinion dated May 30, 2016 and May 28, 2015 respectively. The adjustments to those financial statements for the differences in accounting principles adopted by the Company on transition to the Ind AS have been audited by us.

Our opinion is not qualified in respect of these matters.

REPORT ON OTHER LEGAL AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

11. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2016, issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act (“the Order”), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure B a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

12. 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.

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

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone Ind AS financial statements comply with the Indian 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, 2017 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2017 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 over financial reporting 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 Auditors’ Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, in our opinion and to the best of our knowledge and belief and according to the information and explanations given to us:

i The Company has disclosed the impact, if any, of pending litigations as at March 31, 2017 on its financial position in its standalone Ind AS financial statements - Refer Note 26;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts as at March 31, 2017.

iii. There has been no delay in transferring amounts, required to be transferred, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company during the year ended March 31, 2017.

iv. The Company has provided requisite disclosures in the financial statements as to holdings as well as dealings in Specified Bank Notes during the period from November 8, 2016 to December 30, 2016. However, we are unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to report on whether the disclosures in respect of cash aggregating Rs.398.20 Lakhs are in accordance with books of account maintained by the Company and as produced to us by the Management -Refer Note 38.

Annexure B to Independent Auditors’ Report

Referred to in paragraph 11 of the Independent Auditors’ Report of even date to the members of Jagran Prakashan Limited on the standalone financial statements as of and for the year ended March 31, 2017

i. (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of property, plant and equipment.

(b) The property, plant and equipment are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the property, plant and equipment has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies have been noticed on such verification.

(c) The title deeds of immovable properties, as disclosed in Note 3(a) on property, plant and equipment to the financial statements, are held in the name of Company except for immovable properties acquired pursuant to the Scheme of Amalgamation in earlier years, comprising seven cases of leasehold land and building having gross value of Rs.795.12 lakhs and net value of Rs.651.47 lakhs for which the lease agreements are yet to be registered in the name of the Company, and three cases of freehold land and building having gross value of Rs.655.46 lakhs and net value of Rs.528.84 lakhs for which title is yet to be registered in the name of the Company.

ii. The physical verification of inventory excluding stocks with third parties have been conducted at reasonable intervals by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

iii. The Company has granted unsecured loan to one company covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act. There are no other companies / firms /LLPs/ parties covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act.

(a) In respect of the aforesaid loan, the terms and conditions under which such loan was granted is not prejudicial to the Company’s interest.

(b) In respect of the aforesaid loan, the schedule of repayment of principal and payment of interest has been stipulated, and the parties are repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and are also regular in payment of interest as applicable.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loan, there is no amount which is overdue for more than ninety days.

iv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has complied with the provisions of Section 185 and 186 of the Companies Act, 2013 in respect of the loans and investments made, and guarantees and security provided by it.

v. The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 73, 74, 75 and 76 of the Act and the Rules framed there under to the extent notified.

vi. The Central Government of India has not specified the maintenance of cost records under sub-section (1) of Section 148 of the Act for any of the products of the Company.

vii. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of income tax, professional tax, sales tax, value added tax, service tax, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including provident fund, employees’ state insurance, duty of customs, duty of excise, other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of income-tax, sales-tax, service-tax, duty of customs, and duty of excise or value added tax which have not been deposited on account of any dispute.

viii. According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of loans or borrowings to any financial institution or bank or Government or dues to debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

ix. The Company has not raised any moneys by way of initial public offer, further public offer (including debt instruments) and term loans. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(ix) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

x. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud by the Company or on the Company by its officers or employees, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.

xi. The Company has paid/ provided for managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

xii. As the Company is not a Nidhi Company and the Nidhi Rules, 2014 are not applicable to it, the provisions of Clause 3(xii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xiii. The Company has entered into transactions with related parties in compliance with the provisions of Sections 177 and 188 of the Act. The details of such related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial statements as required under Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS) 24, Related Party Disclosures notified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015.

xiv. The Company has not made any preferential allotment or private placement of shares or fully or partly convertible debentures during the year under review. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xiv) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xv. The Company has not entered into any non cash transactions with its directors or persons connected with him. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xv) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xvi. The Company is not required to be registered under Section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xvi) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: 012754N/N500016

Chartered Accountants

Anurag Khandelwal

Place: New Delhi Partner

Date: May 29, 2017 Membership Number:078571

---

Mar 31, 2016

1. We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2016, the Statement of Profit and Loss, the Cash Flow Statement for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management''s Responsibility for the Standalone Financial Statements

2. The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 ("the Act") with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements to give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance 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, read with Rule 7 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014. 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 statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditors'' Responsibility

3. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone financial statements based on our audit.

4. We have taken into account the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder including the accounting standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report.

5. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act and other applicable authoritative pronouncements issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards and pronouncements require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

6. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors'' judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company''s preparation of the financial statements that give a true and fair view, in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company''s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

7. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

Opinion

8. In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Act 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 March 31, 2016, and its profit and its cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

9. As required by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2016'', issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Order"), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure B a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs

3 and 4 of the Order.

10. 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.

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

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Rule 7 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014.

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2016 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2016 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 over financial reporting 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 Auditors'' Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, in our opinion and to the best of our knowledge and belief and according to the information and explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact, if any, of pending litigations as at March 31, 2016 on its financial position in its standalone financial statements - Refer Note 31 and 33.

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts as at March 31, 2016.

iii. There has been no delay in transferring amounts, required to be transferred, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company during the year ended March 31, 2016.

i. (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies have been noticed on such verification.

(c) The title deeds of immovable properties, as disclosed in Note 12 on fixed assets to the financial statements, are held in the name of the Company except two cases of leasehold land and building having gross value of Rs. 527.96 lakhs and net value of Rs. 436.59 lakhs for which lease agreements are yet to be registered in the name of the Company, and immovable properties acquired pursuant to the Scheme of Amalgamation in earlier years, comprising seven cases of leasehold land and building having gross value of Rs. 1279.33 lakhs and net value of Rs. 719.69 lakhs for which the lease agreements are yet to be registered in the name of the Company, and three cases of freehold land and building having gross value of Rs. 915.99 lakhs and net value of Rs. 589.07 lakhs for which title is yet to be registered in the name of the Company.

ii. The physical verification of inventory excluding stocks with third parties have been conducted at reasonable intervals by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

iii. The Company has granted unsecured loans, to two companies covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act. There are no other companies / firms /LLPs/ parties covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act.

(a) I n respect of the aforesaid loans, the terms and conditions under which such loans were granted are not prejudicial to the Company''s interest.

(b) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the schedule of repayment of principal and payment of interest has been stipulated, and the parties are repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and are also regular in payment of interest as applicable.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no amount which is overdue for more than ninety days.

iv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has complied with the provisions of Section 185 and 186 of the Companies Act, 2013 in respect of the loans and investments made, and guarantees and security provided by it.

v. The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 73, 74, 75 and 76 of the Act and the Rules framed there under to the extent notified.

vi. The Central Government of India has not specified the maintenance of cost records under sub-section (1) of Section 148 of the Act for any of the products of the Company.

vii. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of income tax, professional tax, sales tax, value added tax, employees'' state insurance, service tax, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including provident fund, duty of customs, duty of excise and other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of sales-tax, service-tax, duty of customs, duty of excise, value added tax which have not been deposited on account of any dispute. The particulars of dues of income tax as at March 31, 2016 which have not been deposited on account of a dispute, are as follows:

Period to which the Forum where the Name of the statute Nature of dues Amount (Rs.) amount relates dispute is pending

Income Tax and

Income Tax Act, 1961 15,741,674 Assessment Year 2013-14 CIT (Appeals)- Kanpur Interest

viii. According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of loans or borrowings to any financial institution or bank or Government or dues to debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

ix. The company has not raised any money by way of initial public offer, further public offer (including debt instruments). In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the moneys raised by way of term loans have been applied for the purposes for which they were obtained.

x. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud by the Company or on the Company by its officers or employees, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.

xi. The Company has paid/ provided for managerial remuneration in accordance with the requisite approvals mandated by the provisions of Section 197 read with Schedule V to the Act.

xii. As the Company is not a Nidhi Company and the Nidhi Rules, 2014 are not applicable to it, the provisions of Clause 3(xii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xiii. The Company has entered into transactions with related parties in compliance with the provisions of Sections 177 and 188 of the Act. The details of such related party transactions have been disclosed in the financial statements as required under Accounting Standard (AS) 18, Related Party Disclosures specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Rule 7 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014.

xiv. The Company has not made any preferential allotment or private placement of shares or fully or partly convertible debentures during the year under review. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xiv) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xv. The Company has not entered into any non cash transactions with its directors or persons connected with him/her. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xv) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xvi. The Company is not required to be registered under Section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 3(xvi) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: (012754N/N500016)

Chartered Accountants



Anurag Khandelwal

Partner

Membership Number-078571

Place: New Delhi

Date: May 30, 2016

---

Mar 31, 2015

1. We have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2015, the Statement of Profit and Loss, the Cash Flow Statement for the year then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

MANAGEMENT''S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE STANDALONE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

2. The Company''s Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 ("the Act") with respect to the preparation of these standalone financial statements to give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance 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, read with Rule 7 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014. 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 statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

AUDITOR''S RESPONSIBILITY

3. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these standalone financial statements based on our audit.

4. We have taken into account the provisions of the Act and the Rules made there under including the accounting standards and matters which are required to be included in the audit report.

5. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing specified under Section 143(10) of the Act and other applicable authoritative pronouncements issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards and pronouncements require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

6. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and the disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor''s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal financial control relevant to the Company''s preparation of the financial statements that give a true and fair view, in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on whether the Company has in place an adequate internal financial controls system over financial reporting and the operating effectiveness of such controls. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by the Company''s Directors, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

7. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion on the standalone financial statements.

OPINION

8. In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid standalone financial statements give the information required by the Act 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 March 31, 2015, and its proft and its cash flows for the year ended on that date.

REPORT ON OTHER LEGAL AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

9. As required by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2015'', issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (11) of section 143 of the Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Order"), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order.

10. 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.

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

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid standalone financial statements comply with the Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act, read with Rule 7 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014.

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2015 taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2015 from being appointed as a director in terms of Section 164 (2) of the Act.

(f) 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 knowledge and belief and according to the information and explanations given to us:

i. The Company has disclosed the impact, if any, of pending litigations as at March 31, 2015 on its financial position in its standalone financial statements – Refer Note 32;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts as at March 31, 2015.

iii. There has been no delay in transferring amounts, required to be transferred, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company during the year ended March 31, 2015.

-Annexure to Independent Auditor''s Report

Referred to in paragraph 9 of the Independent Auditors'' Report of even date to the members of Jagran Prakashan Limited on the standalone financial statements as of and for the year ended March 31, 2015

i. (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies have been noticed on such verification.

ii. (a) The inventory excluding stocks with third parties has been physically verified by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of verification is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verification of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business.

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

iii. The Company has granted unsecured loans, to two companies covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act. There are no other companies / firms / parties covered in the register maintained under Section 189 of the Act.

(a) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the parties are repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and are also regular in payment of interest as applicable.

(b) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh.

iv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory and fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across, nor have been informed of, any continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in the aforesaid internal control system.

v. The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 73, 74, 75 and 76 of the Act and the rules framed there under to the extent notified.

vi. The Central Government of India has not specified the maintenance of cost records under sub-section (1) of Section 148 of the Act for any of the products of the Company.

vii. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of tax deducted at source, professional tax, labour welfare fund, sales tax ,value added tax, service tax, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including provident fund and employees'' state insurance , income tax, wealth tax, duty of customs, duty of excise, cess and other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of sales-tax, wealth-tax, service-tax, duty of customs and duty of excise, value added tax or cess which have not been deposited on account of any dispute. The particulars of dues of income tax as at March 31, 2015 which have not been deposited on account of a dispute, are as follows:

-Amount (Rs.) Period to which the Forum where the dispute Name of the statute Nature of dues amount relates is pending

Income Tax Act, 1961 Income Tax and Interest 20,758,226 Assessment Year 2012-2013 CIT (Appeals)- Kanpur

Income Tax Act, 1961 TDS and Interest 3,381,698 Assessment year 2013-14 CIT (Appeals)- Kanpur

c) The amount required to be transferred to Investor Education and Protection Fund has been transferred within the stipulated time in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and the rules made there under.

viii. The Company has no accumulated losses as at the end of the financial year and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

ix. According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

x. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the terms and conditions of the guarantees given by the Company for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year, are not prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

xi. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the term loans have been applied for the purposes for which they were obtained.

xii. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.



For Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

Firm Registration Number: (012754N/N500016)

Chartered Accountants



Anurag Khandelwal

New Delhi Partner

May 28, 2015 Membership Number: 078571

---

Mar 31, 2014

1. We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Jagran Prakashan Limited (the "Company"), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2014, and the Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information, which we have signed under reference to this report.

Management''s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

2. The Company''s Management is responsible for the preparation of these financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the Accounting Standards notifed under the Companies Act, 1956 (the "Act") read with the General Circular 15/2013 dated September 13, 2013 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in respect of Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013. This responsibility includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control 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.

Auditors'' Responsibility

3. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing and other applicable authoritative pronouncements issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

4. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence, about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors'' judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditors consider internal control relevant to the Company''s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity''s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

5. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is suffcient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Opinion

6. In our opinion, and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the accompanying financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(a) in the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2014;

(b) in the case of the Statement of Profit and Loss, of the Profit for the year ended on that date; and

(c) in the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

7 . As required by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2003'', as amended by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) (Amendment) Order, 2004'', issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of section 227 of the Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Order"), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Order.

8. As required by section 227(3) of the Act, we report that:

(a) We have obtained all the information and explanations which, to the best of our knowledge and belief, were necessary for the purpose 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, Statement of Profit and Loss, and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, the Balance Sheet, Statement of Profit and Loss, and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the Accounting Standards notifed under the Companies Act, 1956 read with the General Circular 15/2013 dated September 13, 2013 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in respect of Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013;

(e) On the basis of written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2014, and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualifed as on March 31, 2014, from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (1) of section 2 74 of the Act.

Annexure to Independent Auditors'' Report Referred to in paragraph 7 of the Independent Auditors'' Report of even date to the members of Jagran Prakashan Limited on the financial statements as of and for the year ended March 31, 2014

i. (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verifed by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verifed by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies have been noticed on such verifcation.

(c) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, a substantial part of fixed assets has not been disposed off by the Company during the year.

ii. (a) The inventory (excluding stocks with third parties) has been physically verifed by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of verifcation is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verifcation of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business.

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. The discrepancies noticed on physical verifcation of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

iii. (a) The Company has granted unsecured loan to one company covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loan aggregated to Rs. 1,500 Lakhs and Rs. 1,500 Lakhs, respectively. There are no other companies / firms /other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act.

(b) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loan are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the party is repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and is also regular in payment of interest as applicable.

(d) In respect of the aforesaid loan, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh.

(e) The Company has not taken any loans, secured or unsecured, from companies, firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. Therefore, the provisions of Clause 4(iii)[(f) and (g)] of the said Order are not applicable to the Company.

iv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory and fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across, nor have been informed of, any continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in the aforesaid internal control system.

v. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us, we are of the opinion that the particulars of all contracts or arrangements that need to be entered into the register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956 have been so entered.

(b) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the transactions made in pursuance of such contracts or arrangements and exceeding the value of Rupees Five Lakhs in respect of any party during the year have been made at prices which are reasonable having regard to the prevailing market prices at the relevant time.

vi. The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 58A and 58AA of the Act and the rules framed there under.

vii. In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with its size and the nature of its business.

viii. We have broadly reviewed the books of account maintained by the Company in respect of products where, pursuant to the rules made by the Central Government of India, the maintenance of cost records has been prescribed under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 209 of the Act, and are of the opinion that, prima facie, the prescribed accounts and records have been made and maintained. We have not, however, made a detailed examination of the records with a view to determine whether they are accurate or complete.

ix.(a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of provident fund and employees'' state insurance, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including investor education and protection fund, income tax, sales tax, wealth tax, service tax, customs duty, excise duty and other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of income- tax, sales-tax, wealth-tax, service-tax, customs duty, and excise duty which have not been deposited on account of any dispute.

x. The Company has no accumulated losses as at the end of the financial year and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

xi. According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

xii. In our opinion, the Company has maintained adequate documents and records in the cases where it has granted loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

xiii. As the provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund/ nidhi/ mutual benefit fund/ societies are not applicable to the Company, the provisions of Clause 4(xiii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xiv. In our opinion, the Company has maintained proper records of transactions and contracts relating to dealing or trading in shares, securities, debentures and other investments during the year and timely entries have been made therein. Further, such securities have been held by the Company in its own name or are in the process of transfer in its name, except to the extent of the exemption granted under Section 49 of the Act.

xv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the terms and conditions of the guarantees given by the Company for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year, are not prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

xvi. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the term loans have been applied, on an overall basis, for the purposes for which they were obtained.

xvii. According to the information and explanations given to us and on an overall examination of the balance sheet of the company, we report that the no funds raised on short-term basis have been used for long-term investment.

xviii. The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act during the year. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 4(xviii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xix. The Company has created charge in respect of secured non convertible debentures, aggregating Rs. 15,000 lakhs outstanding at the year- end. The Company had also issued certain other unsecured non convertible debentures, aggregating Rs. 9,500 lakhs, which are outstanding at the year-end, in respect of which it is not required to create security or charge.

xx. The Company has not raised any money by public issues during the year. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 4(xx) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xxi. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.

For Price Waterhouse

Firm Registration Number: 012754N Chartered Accountants

Anurag Khandelwal

Place : New Delhi Partner

Date : May 28, 2014 Membership Number: 078571

---

Mar 31, 2013

Report on the Financial Statements

1. We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Jagran Prakshan Limited (the "Company"), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at March 31, 2013, and the Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information, which we have signed under reference to this report.

Management''s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

2. The Company''s Management is responsible for the preparation of these financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the Accounting Standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of section 211 of ''the Companies Act, 1956'' of India (the "Act"). This responsibility includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control 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,

Auditors'' Responsibility

3. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

4. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence, about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors'' judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditors consider internal control relevant to the Company''s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

5. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Basis for Qualified Opinion

6. We draw your attention to Note 13(a), regarding non-amortisation of the title ''Dainik Jagran'' owned by the Company (the "Title") and forming part of ''Intangible Assets'' in the financial statements aggregating Rs. 1,700 Lakhs (March 31, 2012: Rs. 1,700 Lakhs), over the ''finite'' life of the Title, which has not been determined by the management since the same is considered to be indefinite, resulting in non-compliance with Accounting Standard 26 - Intangible Assets. As the life of the title has not been determined, the impact of the aforesaid non-amortisation on the amortisation expense for the year, net profits for the year, earnings per share for the year, reserves as at the year end and the intangible assets as at year end are not ascertainable.

Opinion

7. I n our opinion, and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the accompanying financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and except for the unascertainable effect of matter referred to in paragraph 6 above, give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(a) in the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2013;

(b) in the case of the Statement of Profit and Loss, of the profit for the year ended on that date; and

(c) in the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

8. As required by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) Order, 2003'', as amended by ''the Companies (Auditor''s Report) (Amendment) Order, 2004'', issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of section 227 of the Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Order"), and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we give in the Annexure a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Order,

9. As required by section 227(3) of the Act, we report that:

(a) Except for the matter referred to in paragraph 6 above, we have obtained all the information and explanations which, to the best of our knowledge and belief, were necessary for the purpose of our audit;

(b) In our opinion, except for the matter referred to in paragraph 6 above, 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, Statement of Profit and Loss, and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, except for the matter referred to in paragraph 6 above, the Balance Sheet, Statement of Profit and Loss, and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the Accounting Standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of section 211 of the Act;

(e) On the basis of written representations received from the directors as on March 31, 2013, and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2013, from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (1) of section 274 of the Act.

i. (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets,

(b) The fixed assets are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies have been noticed on such verification,

(c) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, a substantial part of fixed assets has not been disposed off by the Company during the year,

ii. (a) The inventory (excluding stocks with third parties) has been physically verified by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of verification is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verification of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business,

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. Discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material,

iii. (a) The Company has granted unsecured loans, to two companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregated to Rs. 2598.25 Lakhs and Rs. 2098.25 Lakhs, respectively. The Company has not granted any secured/ unsecured loans to firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act,

(b) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company,

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the parties are repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and are also regular in payment of interest as applicable,

d) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh, (e) The Company has taken an unsecured loan, from one company covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregated to Rs. 1,275 lakhs and Rs. 1,275 lakhs, respectively. The Company has not taken any secured/ unsecured loans to firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act.

(f) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company,

(g) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the Company is regular in repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and is also regular in payment of interest, as applicable.

iv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory and fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across, nor have been informed of, any continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in the aforesaid internal control system,

v. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us, we are of the opinion that the particulars of all contracts or arrangements that need to be entered into the register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956 have been so entered,

(b) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the transactions made in pursuance of such contracts or arrangements and exceeding the value of Rupees Five Lakhs in respect of any party during the year have been made at prices which are reasonable having regard to the prevailing market prices at the relevant time,

vi. The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 58A and 58AA of the Act and the rules framed thereunder,

vii. In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with its size and the nature of its business,

viii. According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company is in the process of preparing cost records in respect of its products for which the maintenance of cost records has been prescribed under clause (d) of sub-section 1 of Section 209 of the Act pursuant to The Companies (Cost Accounting Records) Rules, 2011 notified by the Central Government of India vide notification dated June 3, 2011,

ix. (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of provident fund, employees'' state insurance and sales tax, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including investor education and protection fund, income tax, wealth tax, service tax, customs duty, excise duty and other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of sales- tax, wealth-tax, service-tax, customs duty, and excise duty which have not been deposited on account of any dispute. The particulars of dues of income tax as at March 31, 2013 which have not been deposited on account of a dispute, are as follows:

Name of the statute Nature of dues Amount (Rs.in Lakhs)

Income-tax Act, 1961 Tax not deducted on certain payments 326.83

Income-tax Act, 1961 Tax not deducted on certain payments 1,357.31

Name of the Statute Period to which the amount Forum where the relates dispute is pending

Income-tax Act,1961 January 1, 2009 to March 31, 2009 Supreme Court

Income-tax Act,1961 April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010 Supreme Court

x. The Company has no accumulated losses as at the end of the financial year and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

xi. According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

xii. In our opinion, the Company has maintained adequate documents and records in the cases where it has granted loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

xiii. As the provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund/ nidhi/ mutual benefit fund/ societies are not applicable to the Company, the provisions of Clause 4(xiii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xiv. In our opinion, the Company has maintained proper records of transactions and contracts relating to dealing or trading in shares, securities, debentures and other investments during the year and timely entries have been made therein. Further, such securities have been held by the Company in its own name or are in the process of transfer in its name, except to the extent of the exemption granted under Section 49 of the Act.

xv. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the terms and conditions of the guarantees given by the Company for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year, are not prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

xvi. In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the term loans have been applied, on an overall basis, for the purposes for which they were obtained.

xvii. According to the information and explanations given to us and on an overall examination of the balance sheet of the company, we report that the no funds raised on short-term basis have been used for long-term investment.

xviii. The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act during the year. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 4(xviii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xix. The Company has created charge in respect of secured non convertible debentures, aggregating Rs. 15,000 lakhs issued during the year and outstanding at the year-end. The Company had also issued certain other unsecured non convertible debentures, aggregating Rs. 9,500 lakhs, which are outstanding at the year-end, in respect of which it is not required to create security or charge.

xx. The Company has not raised any money by public issues during the year. Accordingly, the provisions of Clause 4(xx) of the Order are not applicable to the Company.

xxi. During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.

For Price Waterhouse

Firm Registration Number:301112E

Chartered Accountants

Usha Rajeev

Place : New Delhi Partner

Date : May 28, 2013 Membership Number: 87191

---

Mar 31, 2012

1. We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of Jagran Prakashan Limited (the "Company") as at March 31, 2012, and the related Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement for the year ended on that date annexed thereto, which we have signed under reference to this report. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's Management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

2. We conducted our audit in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in India. Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

3. As required by the Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2003, as amended by the Companies (Auditor's Report) (Amendment) Order, 2004 (together the "Order") issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of Section 227 of 'The Companies Act, 1956' of India (the 'Act') and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we further report that:

(i) (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verifed by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verifed by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies between the book records and the physical inventory have been noticed.

(c) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, a substantial part of fixed assets has not been disposed of by the Company during the year.

(ii) (a) The inventory (excluding stocks with third parties) has been physically verifed by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confrmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of verifcation is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verifcation of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business.

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. The discrepancies noticed on physical verifcation of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

(iii) (a) The Company has granted unsecured loans, to two companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregates to Rs. 1,000 Lakhs and Rs. Nil respectively.

(b) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the parties are repaying the principal amounts as stipulated and are also regular in payment of interest, where applicable.

(d) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh.

(e) The Company has taken unsecured loans, from one company covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregated to Rs. 9,500 Lakhs and Rs. 9,500 Lakhs, respectively.

(f) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

(g) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the Company is regular in repaying the principal amounts, as stipulated, and is also regular in payment of interest, as applicable.

(iv) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory and fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, no major weakness have been noticed or reported.

(v) (a) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the particulars of contracts or arrangements referred to in Section 301 of the Act have been entered in the register required to be maintained under that section.

(b) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, the transactions made in pursuance of such contracts or arrangements and exceeding the value of Rupees Five Lakhs in respect of any party during the year have been made at prices which are reasonable having regard to the prevailing market prices at the relevant time.

(vi) The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 58A and 58AA of the Act and the rules framed there under.

(vii) In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with its size and nature of its business.

(viii) According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company is in the process of preparing cost records in respect of its products for which the maintenance of cost records has been prescribed under clause (d) of sub-section 1 of Section 209 of the Act pursuant to The Companies (Cost Accounting Records) Rules, 2011 notifed by the Central Government of India vide notifcation dated June 3, 2011.

(ix) (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues in respect of provident fund, employees' state insurance and sales tax, though there has been a slight delay in a few cases, and is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues, including investor education and protection fund, income tax, wealth tax, service tax, customs duty, excise duty and other material statutory dues, as applicable, with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, the particulars of dues of income tax as at March 31, 2012 which have not been deposited on account of a dispute, are as follows:

Period to Forum Name Amount Nature of which the where the of the (Rs. in dues amount dispute is statute Lakhs) relates pending

Tax not January Income- deducted 1,2009 to High Court tax Act, 326.83* on certain March 31, of Alla -habad 1961 payments 2009

Tax not Income- April 1, 2009 deducted High Court tax Act, 1,357.31* to March 31, on certain of Allaha -bad 1961 2010 payments

* Decided in favour of the company vide order dated May 23, 2012.

(x) The Company has no accumulated losses as at March 31, 2012 and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

(xi) According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

(xii) In our opinion, the Company has maintained adequate documents and records in the cases where the Company has granted loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

(xiii) The provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund / nidhi / mutual benefit fund/ societies are not applicable to the Company.

(xiv) In our opinion, the Company is not a dealer or trader in shares, securities, debentures and other investments.

(xv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not given any guarantee for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year.

(xvi) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, on an overall basis, the term loans have been applied for the purposes for which they were obtained.

(xvii) On the basis of an overall examination of the balance sheet of the Company, in our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no funds raised on a short-term basis which have been used for long-term investment.

(xviii) The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act during the year.

(xix) The Company issued unsecured non-convertible debentures, aggregating Rs. 9,500.00 Lakhs which are outstanding at the year-end, in respect of which it is not required to create security or charge.

(xx) The Company has not raised any money by public issues during the year.

(xxi) During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of any such case by the Management.

4. We draw your attention to Note 12(a), regarding non- amortisation of the title 'Dainik Jagran' owned by the Company (the "Title") and forming part of 'Intangible Assets' in the financial statements aggregating Rs. 1,700 Lakhs (March 31, 2011: Rs. 1,700 Lakhs), over the 'fnite' life of the Title, which has not been determined by the management since the same is considered to be indefnite, resulting in non-compliance with Accounting Standard 26 – Intangible Assets. As the life of the title has not been determined, the impact of the aforesaid non-amortisation on the amortization expense for the year, net Profits for the year, earnings per share for the year, reserves as at the year end and the intangible assets as at year end are not ascertainable.

5. Further to our comments in paragraph 3 above, we report that:

(a) Except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, we have 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, except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, 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, Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, the Balance Sheet, Statement of Profit and Loss and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the accounting standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of Section 211 of the Act;

(e) On the basis of written representations received from the directors, as on March 31, 2012 and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualifed as on March 31, 2012 from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 74 of the Act;

(f) In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the said financial statements together with the notes thereon and attached thereto, give, in the prescribed manner, the information required by the Act, and except for the unascertainable effect of matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(i) in the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the company as at March 31, 2012;

(ii) in the case of the Statement of Profit and Loss, of the Profit for the year ended on that date; and

(iii) in the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash fows for the year ended on that date.

For Price Waterhouse

Firm Registration Number: 301112E Chartered Accountants

Usha Rajeev

New Delhi Partner

May 26, 2012 Membership Number F-87191

---

Mar 31, 2011

1. We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of Jagran Prakashan Limited (the "Company") as at March 31, 2011, and the related profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement for the year ended on that date annexed thereto, which we have signed under reference to this report. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s Management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

2. We conducted our audit in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in India. Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and Significant estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

3. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2003, as amended by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) (Amendment) Order, 2004 (together the "Order") issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of Section 227 of ‘The Companies Act, 1956’ of India (the ‘Act’) and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we further report that:

(i) (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies between the book records and the physical inventory have been noticed.

(c) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, a substantial part of fixed assets has not been disposed of by the Company during the year.

(ii) (a) The inventory (excluding stocks with third parties) has been physically verified by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of verification is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verification of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business.

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

(iii) (a) The Company has granted unsecured loans, to three companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregates to Rs. 3,751.50 lakhs and Rs. 651.50 lakhs respectively.

(b) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the parties are repaying the principal amounts as stipulated and are also regular in payment of interest, where applicable.

(d) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh.

(e) The Company has not taken any loans, secured or unsecured, from companies, firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. Accordingly, the question of commenting on the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans including regularity of repayment does not arise.

(iv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory, fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across nor have been informed of any continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in the aforesaid internal control system.

(v) (a) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the particulars of contracts or arrangements referred to in Section 301 of the Act have been entered in the register required to be maintained under that section.

(b) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no transactions made in pursuance of such contracts or arrangements and exceeding the value of Rupees Five Lakhs in respect of any party during the year, which have been made at prices which are not reasonable having regard to the prevailing market prices at the relevant time.

(vi) The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections58A and 58AA of the Act and the rules framed there under.

(vii) In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with its size and nature of its business.

(viii) The Central Government of India has not prescribed the maintenance of cost records under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 209 of the Act for any of the products of the Company.

(ix) (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing the undisputed statutory dues including provident fund, investor education and protection fund, employees'state insurance, income-tax, sales-tax, wealth tax, service tax, customs duty, excise duty, cess and other material statutory dues as applicable with the appropriate authorities. .

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of income-tax, sales-tax, wealth-tax, service-tax, customs duty, excise duty and cess which have not been deposited on account of any dispute.

(x) The Company has no accumulated losses as at March 31, 2011 and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

(xi) According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

(xii) In our opinion, the Company has maintained adequate documents and records in the cases where the Company has granted loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

(xiii) The provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund / nidhi / mutual benefit fund/ societies are not applicable to the Company.

(xiv) In our opinion, the Company is not a dealer or trader in shares, securities, debentures and other investments.

(xv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not given any guarantee for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year.

(xvi) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, on an overall basis, the term loans have been applied for the purposes for which they were obtained.

(xvii) On the basis of an overall examination of the balance sheet of the Company, in our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no funds raised on a short-term basis which have been used for long-term investment.

(xviii) The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act during the year.

(xix) The Company has not issued any debentures during the year and no debentures were outstanding at the year- end.

(xx) The Company has not raised any money by public issues during the year.

(xxi) During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of material fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of such case by the Management.

4. We draw your attention to Note 5 on Schedule 20B, regarding non-amortisation of costs, aggregating Rs. 1,700 Lakhs (March 31, 2010: Rs. 1,700 Lakhs), of the title ‘Dainik Jagran'owned by the Company (the "Title") and forming part of ‘Intangible Assets'in the financial statements, over the ‘finite'life of the Title, which is considered as indefinite by the management, and has not been determined; resulting in non-compliance with Accounting Standard 26 - Intangibles - referred to in sub-section (3C) of Section 211 of the Act. As finite life of the title has not been determined, the impact of the aforesaid non amortisation on the net profits for the year and the net assets as at year end is not quantifiable.

5. Further to our comments in paragraph 3 above, we report that:

(a) Except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, we have obtained all the information and explanations which, to the best of our knowledge and belief, were necessary for the purposes of our audit;

(b) Except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, the impact of which is not quantifiable, 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, profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) Except for the matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, in our opinion, the Balance Sheet, profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the accounting standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of Section 211 of the Act;

(e) On the basis of written representations received from the directors, as on March 31, 2011 and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on March 31, 2011 from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 74 of the Act;

(f) In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the said financial statements together with the notes thereon and attached thereto, except forthe matter referred to in paragraph 4 above, the impact of which is not quantifiable, give, in the prescribed manner, the information required by the Act, and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(i) in the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the company as at March 31, 2011;

(ii) in the case of the profit and Loss Account, of the profit for the year ended on that date; and

(iii) in the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.



For Price Waterhouse

Firm Registration Number: 301112E

Chartered Accountants

Usha Rajeev Partner

Membership Number F-87191

Kanpur

May 28, 2011

---

Mar 31, 2010

1. We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of Jagran Prakashan Limited ("the Company") as at March 31, 2010, and the related Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement for the year ended on that date annexed thereto, which we have signed under reference to this report. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s Management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

2. We conducted our audit in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in India. Those Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by Management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

3. As required by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2003, as amended by the Companies (Auditor’s Report) (Amendment) Order, 2004 (together the "Order") issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub-section (4A) of Section 227 of ‘The Companies Act, 1956’ of India (the ‘Act’) and on the basis of such checks of the books and records of the Company as we considered appropriate and according to the information and explanations given to us, we further report that:

(i) (a) The Company is maintaining proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation, of fixed assets.

(b) The fixed assets are physically verified by the Management according to a phased programme designed to cover all the items over a period of three years which, in our opinion, is reasonable having regard to the size of the Company and the nature of its assets. Pursuant to the programme, a portion of the fixed assets has been physically verified by the Management during the year and no material discrepancies between the book records and the physical inventory have been noticed.

(c) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, a substantial part of fixed assets has not been disposed of by the Company during the year.

(ii) (a) The inventory (excluding stocks with third parties) has been physically verifiled by the Management during the year. In respect of inventory lying with third parties, these have substantially been confirmed by them. In our opinion, the frequency of veriifcation is reasonable.

(b) In our opinion, the procedures of physical verification of inventory followed by the Management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business.

(c) On the basis of our examination of the inventory records, in our opinion, the Company is maintaining proper records of inventory. The discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to book records were not material.

(iii) (a) The Company has granted unsecured loans, to three companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. The maximum amount involved during the year and the year-end balance of such loans aggregates to Rs. 1,146.50 lakhs and Rs. 671.50 lakhs, respectively.

(b) In our opinion, the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans are not prima facie prejudicial to the interest of the Company.

(c) In respect of the aforesaid loans, the parties are repaying the principal amounts as stipulated and are also regular in payment of interest, where applicable

(d) In respect of the aforesaid loans, there is no overdue amount more than Rupees One Lakh

(e) The Company has not taken any loans, secured or unsecured, from companies, firms or other parties covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act. Accordingly, the question of commenting on the rate of interest and other terms and conditions of such loans including regularity of repayment does not arise

(iv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory, fixed assets and for the sale of goods and services. Further, on the basis of our examination of the books and records of the Company, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across nor have been informed of any continuing failure to correct major weaknesses in the aforesaid internal control system

(v) (a) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the particulars of contracts or arrangements referred to in Section 301 of the Act have been entered in the register required to be maintained under that section

(b) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no transactions made in pursuance of such contracts or arrangements and exceeding the value of Rupees Five Lakhs in respect of any party during the year, which have been made at prices which are not reasonable having regard to the prevailing market prices at the relevant time

(vi) The Company has not accepted any deposits from the public within the meaning of Sections 58A and 58AA of the Act and the rules framed there under.

(vii) In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with its size and nature of its business

(viii) The Central Government of India has not prescribed the maintenance of cost records under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 209 of the Act for any of the products of the Company.

(ix) (a) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, in our opinion, the Company is generally regular in depositing the undisputed statutory dues including investor education and protection fund, income-tax, sales-tax, wealth tax, service tax, customs duty, excise duty, cess and other materia

statutory dues as applicable with the appropriate authorities.

(b) According to the information and explanations given to us and the records of the Company examined by us, there are no dues of income-tax, sales- tax, wealth-tax, service-tax, customs duty, excise duty and cess which have not been deposited on account of any dispute.

(x) The Company has no accumulated losses as at March 31, 2010 and it has not incurred any cash losses in the financial year ended on that date or in the immediately preceding financial year.

(xi) According to the records of the Company examined by us and the information and explanation given to us, the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to any financial institution or bank or debenture holders as at the balance sheet date.

(xii) The Company has not granted any loans and advances on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities.

(xiii) The provisions of any special statute applicable to chit fund / nidhi / mutual benefit fund/ societies are not applicable to the Company.

(xiv) In our opinion, the Company is not a dealer or trader in shares, securities, debentures and other investments.

(xv) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not given any guarantee for loans taken by others from banks or financial institutions during the year.

(xvi) In our opinion, and according to the information and explanations given to us, on an overall basis, the term loans have been applied for the purposes for which they were obtained.

(xvii) On the basis of an overall examination of the balance sheet of the Company, in our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there are no funds raised on a short-term basis which have been used for long-term investment.

(xviii) The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the register maintained under Section 301 of the Act during the year.

(xix) The Company has not issued any debentures during the year and no debentures were outstanding at the year-end.

(xx) The Company has not raised any money by public issues during the year.

(xxi) During the course of our examination of the books and records of the Company, carried out in accordance with the generally accepted auditing practices in India, and according to the information and explanations given to us, we have neither come across any instance of fraud on or by the Company, noticed or reported during the year, nor have we been informed of such case by the Management.

4. Further to our comments in paragraph 3 above, we report that:

(a) Subject to the matter explained in paragraph 5 below, we have 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, Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report are in agreement with the books of account;

(d) In our opinion, subject to the matter regarding non- compliance with the provisions of Accounting Standard 26, Intangible Assets, as stated in paragraph 5 below, the Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this report comply with the accounting standards referred to in sub-section (3C) of Section 211 of the Act;

(e) On the basis of written representations received from the directors, as on March 31, 2010 and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualifed as on March 31, 2010 from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of sub- section (1) of Section 274 of the Act;

(f) In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, subject to the matter stated in paragraph 5 below, the said financial statements together with the notes thereon and attached thereto give, in the prescribed manner, the information required by the Act, and give a true and fair view in conformity with The accounting principles generally accepted in India:

(i) in the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the Company as at March 31, 2010;

(ii) in the case of the Profit and Loss Account, of the profit for the year ended on that date; and

(iii) in the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date

5. As explained in note 5 on Schedule 20B to the financial statements, Title-Dainik Jagran ("the Title") amounting to Rs. 1,700 Lakhs included under intangible assets is carried at cost and is not being amortised over its useful life, which in our opinion is not in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Standard 26 as prescribed by the Companies (Accounting Standards) Rules, 2006.. Accordingly, pending amortisation of the Title over its estimated useful life, any adjustments to the financial statements that may arise consequent to such amortisation are not currently quantifable.

For Price Waterhouse

Firm Registration Number: 301112E

Chartered Accountants

usha Rajeev

Partner

Membership Number F-87191

Kanpur

May 27, 2010