CARE Ratings Ltd Management Discussions

In FY24, our journey truly embodied the theme Action Spurs Transformation. This pivotal year marked three decades of progressive strides from our humble inception in 1993. We celebrated this milestone year by hosting momentous high-octane events titled "Conversations" that were graced by luminaries from both the government and private sectors. These gatherings not only commemorated our past achievements but also sparked dialogues shaping future directions. Simultaneously, we strategically realigned and expanded our subsidiaries, pushing into new geographies and broadening our business scope, preparing us for the next phases of innovation and leadership in the industry.

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

Emphasis on Transformation

As part of our commitment to staying at the forefront of industry standards and expectations, we undertook a comprehensive restructuring of your Company and subsidiaries. This realignment focused on enhancing our capabilities in ESG ratings, risk management, analytics, and advisory services. By integrating these key areas, we aimed to foster a more holistic approach to our services, ensuring that they met the evolving needs of our clients and the broader market.

Throughout FY24, our efforts were anchored by the four pillars of transformation that we have developed over the past three years: Group Approach, Technology, Talent, and Branding. Each of these pillars represents a core area of focus that is essential to our ongoing success and growth.

Group Approach: We enhanced our group structure to facilitate better synergy across different arms of the business. This restructuring was aimed at creating a more cohesive framework that leverages the strengths of each subsidiary to enhance overall service delivery.

Technology: A significant part of our transformation involved adopting and advancing new technologies. The integration of AI and ML into our ratings and advisory services has set a new standard within our operations, enabling us to provide more accurate, timely, and insightful analyses.

Talent: Recognising that our people are our greatest asset, we have heavily invested in hiring, retaining, and training top-tier talent. Our focus has been on nurturing a workforce that is not only skilled but also aligned with our core values and vision for the future.

Branding and visibility: FY24 also saw us ramping up our branding and visibility efforts. Through targeted high- quality outreach activities and a strengthened media presence, we have worked diligently to communicate our transformed brand identity and thought leadership. This initiative has been essential in ensuring that our external image reflects our internal evolution.

The groundwork laid in the previous year bore fruit in FY24, as we began to see the tangible benefits of our strategic initiatives. The actions taken in terms of restructuring, technology adoption, talent management, and branding have all contributed to a more dynamic, responsive, and efficient organisation. Our approach not only reinforced our market position but also underscored our commitment to leading by example in the financial services industry.

As we move forward, CareEdge remains committed to building on this foundation of transformation. Our focus will continue to be on driving innovation, enhancing service quality, and sustaining growth, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the expectations of our clients and stakeholders in the ever-evolving financial landscape.

Ratings

As the second largest credit rating agency in India, your Company continued to grow in FY24 and add value to the industry. The Ratings vertical strategically organised its performance around several key pillars, designed to enhance operational efficiency and readiness for the future:

Efficient execution and superior process controls: We

focused on streamlining operations and implementing superior process controls, leading to more efficient and effective execution.

Strong performance metrics: Our vertical demonstrated strong performance, particularly in terms of low default rates and decisive rating actions, highlighting our robust analytical capabilities.

Enhanced outreach: We significantly increased our outreach efforts through webinars, opinion pieces, and a strong media presence. This year, both the quality and quantity of our engagements have seen notable improvements.

Future readiness through automation and digitisation:

We are committed to preparing the organization for the future by integrating automation and digitisation into our processes, ensuring that we stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

In FY24, we successfully executed over 5,500 rating assignments, encompassing both initial ratings and surveillance cases. Additionally, we enhanced our Management Information Systems (MIS) and tightened process controls to improve our compliance management.

Throughout the year, we hosted 26 webinars, drawing robust participation from industry experts along with active involvement from bankers, institutional analysts, and industry practitioners. These sessions have served as vital platforms for discussion and dissemination of industry insights.

Our opinion pieces, exceeding 80 in number this year, covered a wide range of themes and garnered extensive coverage across multiple media outlets. The high quality of these pieces has contributed significantly to our thought leadership in the industry.

Our monthly publication, Foresights, now in its second year, continues to be well-received by a diverse array of stakeholders, affirming its value and relevance in the current market.

Automation remains a key focus for us. We have engaged a reputable IT vendor to implement a sophisticated workflow automation process, which is expected to be operational in the next financial year.

We are also actively conducting pilot projects to integrate AI technologies into our rating processes. These initiatives are aimed at increasing operational efficiency and reducing the potential for human errors, ensuring that our ratings are both accurate and reliable.

Looking ahead, we are poised to continue our excellent performance. In the current year, our focus will be on maintaining our robust analytical capabilities and enhancing our engagement with investors and other market participants. These efforts are expected to further solidify our position in the Indian debt markets. Additionally, our ongoing commitment to automation is anticipated to yield significant efficiency benefits, aligning with our strategic goals for growth and innovation.

The overall rating revenue for the company stood at Rs 283.07 crore for FY24 as against Rs 248.84 crore in FY23. The rating revenue has grown by ~ 14% during FY24 as compared to FY23 aided by strong performance in the initial rating revenue.

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." - William James

Business Performance: Onwards & Upwards

In FY24, the business development team underwent a strategic reorganisation from a geographical structure to one focused on specific sectors, to sharpen focus within key domains. This shift has facilitated the unlocking of value across various geographies, translating into enhanced business opportunities for the Company. With this approach, the company has garnered significant market share in terms of new clients added during the year.

As part of this strategy, your company has adopted a targeted approach to expand its market share in the securitisation domain, both by engaging new originators and by deepening relationships with existing clients. The outcomes of this initiative have been encouraging, with volume growth of 59% leading to a significant enhancement in our market share during FY24.

CARE Ratings (Africa) Private Limited

CARE Ratings (Africa) Private Limited (CRAF) continued its impressive performance during the financial year under review. The Company assigned ratings to significantly large corporates of Mauritius including renowned entities like The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd., Swan Life, SICOM, MUA, Bank One, ABC Bank, CIEL, ENL, CIM Financial Services Ltd., Ascencia, Medine group, One & Only Villas, New Mauritius Hotel and Alteo.

In FY24, CRAF has assigned ratings to bank facilities and bond issues aggregating to MUR 120 billion (MUR 90 billion in FY23) translating to a 30% higher debt rating in FY24 (vis-a-vis FY23). There has been an increase in awareness about the concept of Credit Rating among Banks and Corporates and a clear understanding of the benefits of such Ratings.

CRAFs total revenue grew by 32% in FY24.

CARE Ratings Nepal Limited

In FY24, CARE Ratings Nepal (CRNL), a subsidiary of CARE Ratings Limited, successfully expanded its range of services tailored to the Nepalese market, drawing on its parent companys expertise. Despite challenges like rising non-performing assets and stringent regulations, CRNL grew its revenue steadily and increased its active ratings count. This growth was supported by robust customer engagement and extensive educational initiatives. Looking forward, CRNL is optimistic about overcoming economic headwinds by enhancing customer relationships, diversifying its services, and leveraging its strong foundation and dedicated team.

CRNL saw its revenue grow consistently in FY24, navigating through an industry-wide slowdown adeptly. Looking ahead, while acknowledging potential economic headwinds, CRNL remains optimistic about its future.

CARE Analytics and Advisory Private Limited (Erstwhile CARE Risk Solutions Private Limited)

CareEdge Analytics

CareEdge Analytics boasts 18 years of experience in risk and compliance, serving regions such as India, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Over the past year, the company has undergone a significant transformation, restructuring itself as a FinTech entity under the CareEdge umbrella.

With a sharp focus on the vast potential of the Indian market, CareEdge Analytics is tailoring its services to specifically address the unique demands of the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) sector. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities to expand into the markets of Nepal and Bangladesh.

For the current fiscal year, CareEdge Analytics is set to concentrate on the lending tech sector and enhance our product offerings through the integration of AI and ML technologies. Our primary goal is to increase revenue by deepening customer relationships and expanding our share in the analytics market.

In FY24, we reported strong growth in operating revenue, though there were challenges.

CareEdge Advisory

During FY24, CareEdge Advisory significantly expanded its product offerings across various segments, deepened its customer base, and forged new partnerships. Our esteemed client roster includes prominent names from fund houses, PSUs, banks, financial institutions, the manufacturing sector, and municipal corporations.

Looking ahead, the Advisory division anticipates continued robust growth across its consulting, research, and sustainability segments. This growth is expected to be driven by the overall economic growth, infrastructure spending, and associated capital expenditure requirements. Indias commitment to achieving its climate goals and the ESG reporting requirements is expected to boost our sustainability business. As in the current year, we aim to establish more alliances and collaborations to broaden our services and position ourselves as a comprehensive solution provider for our clients. Additionally, we are committed to expanding our business scope to include other geographies where the CareEdge Group is present.

CARE ESG Ratings Limited

(Erstwhile CARE Advisory Research and Training Limited)

During the year under review, CareEdge ESG decided to initiate its business as an ESG Rating Provider (ERP) in accordance with the SEBI Notification dated July 3, 2023, and the SEBI Master Circular dated July 12, 2023, in alignment with the SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999. Consequently, the Company transferred its business on a going concern basis, through a slump sale, to CARE Analytics and Advisory Private Limited effective October 16, 2023. Following the business transfer, the Company applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to obtain an ERP license and the CareEdge ESG received the license under Category I on May 2, 2024.

CARE ESG Ratings has already established a core team and is prepared to commence its ESG rating activities.

CareEdge Global IFSC Limited

CareEdge Global IFSC Limited was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company on April 29, 2024.

The CareEdge Global IFSC Limited will carry out the business of Global Scale Ratings of Securities, Sovereign Ratings, sub-Sovereign Ratings, Research, Valuation and any other activity allowed by Regulators. Applied for a licence to the International Financial Services Centres Authority and SEZ Authorities - GIFT

City for commencing business as a rating agency.

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." - Walter Elliot

Tech Update

In FY24, your company significantly enhanced business continuity by executing a robust Disaster Recovery (DR) Plan. This ensured seamless operations during a simulated seven-day shutdown of our primary data centre, followed by a successful switch back from our DR site. We also upgraded our backup solutions to modern technologies that ensure faster data recovery and improved performance.

Further securing our digital infrastructure, we enhanced our Web Application Firewall (WAF) and implemented Privileged Access Management (PAM) to protect against advanced cyber threats. These measures have fortified our defences, making our systems resilient against potential cyber-attacks.

People at the Core

At CareEdge, our commitment to nurturing a vibrant workplace and offering our team optimal career opportunities continues to drive our progress. Throughout FY24, we have remained focused on attracting and retaining exceptional talent at all levels— from leadership to entry-level roles. Recognising and rewarding our employees dedication and hard work has been a priority, acknowledging their pivotal role in our success.

Your Company enriched our workplace culture with regular social events and educational webinars. Our HR policies are regularly updated to reflect the latest industry standards, ensuring we remain a top choice for professionals. As we step into FY25, we maintain a dedicated team of 563 employees and are deeply committed to sustaining a supportive and positive work environment. Your Companys attrition rate declined in FY24 as compared to the previous year.

"Success is not in what you have, but what you are." - Booker T. Washington

Brand Power: Stronger than Ever

In FY24, your Company celebrated its 30^th anniversary, marking this momentous milestone by significantly enhancing our presence within the industry. Throughout the year, we organised a series of high-profile CareEdge Conversations events that brought together distinguished leaders from both the government and private sectors. These gatherings were not merely events but served as pivotal platforms for substantial discourse and exchange of ideas. We actively engaged in 26 webinars and participated in 110 speaker and knowledge-sharing forums, underlining our dedication to fostering dialogue and disseminating knowledge.

Our knowledge partnerships with leading media outlets such as ET NOW and CNBC TV18 played a crucial role in amplifying our visibility and influence, ensuring that our insights and expert analyses reached a wide audience. These partnerships enabled us to feature prominently across various media platforms, from print to digital and broadcast, highlighting our forums and the cutting-edge insights shared therein.

This year, the power of our brand was more pronounced than ever, driven by our core pillars of Group Impetus, People, Technology, and Branding & Visibility. We created enriching experiences for our stakeholders, pushing the boundaries of innovation and excellence in service. Through these efforts, we not only strengthened our market position but also deepened the trust and relationships with our stakeholders, setting a strong foundation for future growth and impact.

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe

Developments on the Regulatory Front

CareEdge Ratings has been actively engaging with the regulators on various aspects and has also been at the forefront in meetings of various industry bodies like the Association of Indian Rating Agencies (AIRA) and the Indian Banks Association (IBA). In FY24, SEBI issued the master circular for Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) which was a compilation of all the circulars issued by SEBI earlier and restricted the applicability to only listed securities. RBI then communicated that the SEBI guidelines as applicable to securities would apply mutatis mutandis to bank loan ratings, short-term nonconvertible debentures and commercial papers and also issued a guidance note clarifying various matters. SEBI also issued circulars on disclosures w.r.t Issuers Not Cooperating, online dispute resolution, disclosure to debenture trustees and detailed guidelines for ESG Rating Providers.

CareEdge Ratings is committed to remaining compliant with all the regulations on the back of adequate control mechanisms and various technology-led initiatives.

"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."- William Barclay

Opportunities

Despite challenges from geopolitical uncertainties, weak external demand and weather-related irregularities, the Indian economy exhibited resilience. The GDP growth for FY24 was at 8.2%. While retail inflation moderated, food inflation persisted at elevated levels. The Reserve Bank of India maintained the policy repo rate at 6.5% throughout the year while maintaining a vigil over high food inflation and volatile crude oil prices.

Several high-frequency indicators are pointing towards continued momentum in economic activity. Rural demand is expected to improve supported by

prospects of a normal monsoon. This is a positive for the broad-based recovery in the consumption scenario. The government has remained at the forefront of the investment scenario. Going ahead, the improving private sector intent to invest as reflected by high new investment project announcements could be an indication of pick up in the private capex cycle. The rise in manufacturing sector capacity utilization above the long-term average also bodes well for an eventual rise in the private capex. Overall, the economy remains well-placed with GDP growth projected at around 7% in FY25.

Threats

The main threats to operations are identified and mitigation measures are put in place. Some of these are elaborated below:

Operational Risks

Operational risks encompass people, process, fraud and technology risks. These have all been addressed by your company with appropriate measures.

Mitigants

• Talent is harnessed with continuous training for enhancing skills and creating a healthy environment for everyone so that we attract and retain the right talent.

• The Ratings Operations manual provides a rigorous SOP to be adhered to while executing an assignment with periodic audits to ensure compliance.

• Our comprehensive Code of Conduct addresses issues of fraud and maintenance of confidentiality is ingrained in every employee at the time of joining the organisation and buttressed through the year in various sessions organised by the senior Group Heads.

• CareEdge Ratings has in place a comprehensive IT security policy to address risks involving significant security breaches, and breakdowns in computer systems and network infrastructure. We employ security systems, including firewalls and intrusion detection systems, conduct periodic penetration testing for the identification and assessment of potential vulnerabilities and use encryption technology for transmitting and storing critical data.

Business Risk

While the overall growth of the economy was healthy in FY24, private investment growth was muted. Nevertheless, your company posted a growth in its core business of ratings. Private investment growth will need to pick up in a meaningful way in FY25 to sustain the growth momentum generated over the last two years.

Mitigants

Your Company have adopted a Group approach that involves diversifying our business ventures, separating them from the ratings business. By expanding into other sectors, the Group can mitigate the impact of external factors on our overall operations. In FY24, revenue contributions from our non-rating businesses have increased to 10% from 6% in FY23.

In addition to economic risks, there are various business risks we encounter. These include competition within the industry, challenges in accessing relevant information, uncooperative issues, reputation risk, and potential non-payment of fees by clients. Focused efforts were taken during the year to deepen our relationship with our existing clients with targeted efforts to onboard clients from high-growth sectors.

The availability of limited information directly affects the quality of our ratings. In cases such as the Issuer Not Cooperating (INC) ratings, where limited public information is available, we face difficulties in conducting thorough assessments.

Your Companys well-thought-out rating criteria/ methodologies have led to even stronger acceptability of our ratings, which is very critical from a long-term perspective. With our robust rating performance, and high stability ratio of our ratings across categories, your Company continues to emphasise on quality-led growth.

With a leadership position in segments belonging to the Infrastructure and BFSI sectors, your company continues to garner incremental market share of the rating business. With India poised to move towards a USD 5 trillion economy, there would be a need to invest in this growth. The lending institutions/ markets are well geared to fund this growth and your company is an important intermediary in this ecosystem.

Market Intelligence Risk

Market Intelligence risk encompasses our capacity to accurately anticipate and identify the deteriorating ability of companies to meet their debt obligations, thereby providing early warning signals. Effectively managing this risk is crucial as any default, particularly in the case of market instruments such as bonds, can have a significant impact on individual investors and potentially tarnish the reputation of our firm.

Mitigants

We are working towards strengthening our market intelligence systems to ensure that we are ahead of the curve.

Market Risk (Investment)

We run the risk of our investment portfolio being affected by changes in interest rates as we do have a sizeable investment portfolio.

Mitigants

Here, we do have a very conservative investment policy, which concentrates more on preserving the shareholders assets by balancing risk with returns.

Compliance and Other Related Risks

Compliance and other related risks arise due to the regulatory structure in which we operate.

Mitigants

CareEdge Ratings software interface maps the entire workflow in the rating process, affixing the responsibility of various stakeholders and capturing timelines of key activities. The interface also sends out periodic alerts to supervisors on deviations and gives comprehensive MIS reports for monitoring.

We also have an internal controls team to look into this on an ongoing basis, including monitoring compliance with various internal and external guidelines. Also, the legal risk arising from companies not being satisfied with our ratings is possible and we do try and ensure that all our processes are robust so that we are ringfenced well in every respect. As such, all legal and regulatory risks which could potentially impact the company are monitored closely by the compliance & legal and criteria & quality control functions to mitigate them in coordination with the other functions/departments. Further, periodic audits are undertaken to validate the compliance controls in the organisation to ensure the robustness of the designed controls.

We are committed to strengthening our systems and processes continuously in line with market requirements and our studies to critically study past instances and identify root causes of sharp rating transitions.

It may also be noted that a major portion of CareEdge Ratings rating business is driven by regulatory requirements or requires accreditation, recognition or approval from government authorities. CareEdge Ratings is registered with SEBI and is recognised by RBI as an eligible credit rating agency in terms of the Basel- III Capital Adequacy Framework. Also, commercial papers have a mandatory credit rating requirement by RBI. In the event of changes to these regulations or norms, there may be a change in the demand for ratings. Implementation of the Internal Rating Based (IRB) approach by RBI may make rating non-mandatory to those banks for whom the IRB approach is approved by RBI.

The new transformative agenda, which emphasises the Group approach, will help to mitigate to an extent any threat to the rating business.

Governance and Oversight

The majority of the Directors in your Companys Board of Directors are independent Directors who bring with them rich experience in finance, economics, regulatory affairs, information technology and the insurance industry. This provides advanced guidance to management for making innovative decisions.

Internal Control Systems and their Adequacy

CareEdge Ratings has implemented an internal control framework to ensure all assets are safeguarded and protected against loss from unauthorised use or disposition, and transactions are authorised, recorded and reported correctly. The framework includes internal controls over financial reporting, which ensures the integrity of the financial statements of the Company and reduces the possibility of fraud.

The Internal Controls and Criteria Team issues well- documented operating procedures and authorisations with adequate built-in controls. These are carried out

at the beginning of any activity and all through the process to keep track of any major changes. As part of the controls process, they also review the design of key processes, from the point of view of the adequacy of controls. The independent internal auditors also conduct an exhaustive internal audit of the operations and procedures adopted by the company in accordance with SEBIs guidelines. The Companys statutory auditors have audited the financial statements and issued a report on your Companys internal control over financial reporting as defined in Section 143 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act). The said report is annexed to the independent auditors report.

Financial Performance

The table below gives salient features of the performance of CareEdge Group at the consolidated level

(Rs in Crore)

Details	For the year ended		Growth
	March 31, 2024	March 31, 2023	(in %)
Income
Revenue from operations	331.68	278.99	18.89%
Other income	46.69	37.94	23.07%
Total Income (A)	378.37	316.93	19.39%
Expenses
Employee costs	164.58	133.94	22.87%
Depreciation, amortization & impairment	10.48	16.24	(35.43%)
Finance costs	1.71	1.00	70.93%
Other costs	54.97	40.00	37.41%
Total Expenses(B)	231.75	191.18	21.22%
Profit Before Tax (A-B)	146.63	125.75	16.61%
Taxes	44.07	40.29	9.38%
Profit After Tax	102.56	85.46	20.02%

 

Ratios	FY 2023-24	FY 2022-23
Debtors Turnover (in times)	14.75	13.69
Current Ratio (in times)	8.57	10.41
Inventory Turnover	NA	NA
Interest Coverage Ratio	NA	NA
Debt Equity Ratio	NA	NA
Operating Profit Margin (%)	33.81%	37.65%
PAT Margin (%)	27.11%	26.96%
Return on Net worth (%)	14.15%	12.43%

(Rs in Crore)

Details	March 31, 2024	March 31, 2023	Growth%
Property, plant, equipment, Right to use assets, Goodwil and Intangible assets	143.22	137.79	3.94%
Less accumulated depreciation	34.40	24.80	38.70%
Less Impairment on intangible assets	-	5.71	N.M.
Net Block	108.82	107.28	1.43%
Depreciation as % Total income	2.77%	3.32%
Accumulated depreciation as % gross block	24.01%	18.00%

 

Details	As at March 31, 2024	As at March 31, 2023	Growth %
Non-Current Investments
Investments in Equity instruments (Unquoted)	24.93	24.93	N.M.
Investment in Tax-Free Bonds	18.89	18.98	(0.47)%
(A) Total	43.82	43.91	(0.20)%
Current Investments & Treasury
Investment in Mutual Funds & Bonds (Quoted)	22.95	30.06	(23.65)%
Cash and Bank Balances	8.28	7.27	13.89%
Fixed Deposits/Liquid funds	606.09	537.12	12.84%
(B) Total	637.32	574.45	10.94%
Grand Total (A) + (B)	681.14	618.36	10.15%
The Groups trade receivables are presented below:			(Rs in Crore)
Details	As at March 31, 2024	As at March 31, 2023	Growth %
Ratings & other services (Net)	15.19	15.32	(0.85%)
Non-Ratings	7.30	5.07	43.98%
Total	22.49	20.39	10.30%

The table below gives salient features of the performance of CareEdge at the Standalone level

(Rs in Crore)

	For the year ended		Growth
Details	March 31, 2024	March 31, 2023	(in %)
Revenue from operations	283.07	248.84	13.76%
Other income	46.96	37.10	26.58%
Total Income (A)	330.03	285.94	15.42%
Expenses
Employee costs	125.12	104.03	20.27%
Depreciation, amortization & impairment	11.15	13.77	(19.03)%
Finance costs	1.48	0.70	111.43%
Other costs	30.41	29.30	3.79%
Total Expenses(B)	168.15	147.80	13.77%
Profit Before Tax (A-B)	161.88	138.14	17.19%
Taxes	42.44	34.34	23.59%
Profit After Tax	119.44	103.80	15.07%
Ratios		FY 2023-24	FY 2022-23
Debtors Turnover (in times)		19.25	16.38
Current Ratio (in times)		10.26	12.68
Inventory Turnover		NA	NA
Interest Coverage Ratio		NA	NA
Debt Equity Ratio		NA	NA
Operating Profit Margin (%)		45.06%	46.42%
PAT Margin (%)		36.19%	36.30%
Return on Net worth (%)		15.73%	14.94%

(Rs in Crore)

Details	March 31, 2024	March 31, 2023	Growth%
Property, plant, equipment etc	122.49	118.43	3.43%
Less accumulated depreciation	29.51	21.86	35.00%
Less Impairment on intangible assets	-	5.72	N.M.
Net Block	92.98	90.85	2.34%
Depreciation as % Total income	2.32%	2.82%
Accumulated depreciation as % gross block	24.09%	18.46%
(Rs in Crore)
Details	As at March 31, 2024	As at March 31, 2023	Growth %
Non-Current Investments
Investments in Equity instruments (Unquoted)	89.91	93.21	(3.54)%
Investments in Preference shares	20.50	-	N.M
Investment in Tax-Free Bonds	18.89	18.98	(0.47)%
(A) Total	129.30	112.19	15.25%
Current Investments & Treasury
Investment in Mutual Funds & Bonds (Quoted)	22.95	30.06	(23.65)%
Cash and Bank Balances	4.33	5.15	(15.92)%
Fixed Deposits/Liquid funds	563.33	499.87	12.70%
(B) Total	590.61	535.08	10.38%
Grand Total (A) + (B)	719.91	647.27	11.22%
Trade receivables are presented below:			(Rs in Crore)
Details	As at March 31, 2024	As at March 31, 2023	Growth %
Ratings & other services (Net)	14.71	15.19	(3.16)%
Non-Ratings	-	-	-
Total	14.71	15.19	(3.16)%

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our View on FY25

As we move into FY25, the Indian economy showcases continued momentum as seen in the performance of several high-frequency indicators. Rural demand which has remained tepid in the last fiscal is expected to improve supported by expectations of normal monsoon. This is likely to aid in a broad-based recovery in the overall consumption scenario.

Additionally, the easing in CPI inflation comes as a positive for the consumption scenario. Though the elevated prices of select food items continue to pose a challenge, the supply-side interventions by the government and the expected normal monsoon could aid in alleviating these price pressures.

On the investment front, the government has remained committed towards capex-led growth, even while private capex has been slow. However, increasing private sector investment announcements and capacity utilisation levels

rising above the long-term average signal encouraging prospects for the private capex cycle.

On the external front, merchandise exports are expected to improve gradually following a weak performance last year. Strong performance in the services exports is expected to keep Indias current account deficit manageable at around 1% of GDP in FY25. Healthy foreign portfolio investment inflows are expected to continue gaining from Indias inclusion in global bond indices. Overall, Indias external vulnerabilities remain limited aided by a comfortable current account position and ample foreign exchange reserves.

To summarise, despite several domestic and global headwinds, Indias economic fundamentals remain positive with growth projected at around 7% in FY25. Furthermore, India gains on the back of a comfortable external position. However, challenges from weather- related uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and volatile commodity prices remain the key monitorable going forward. Overall, the Indian economy is well-positioned to continue its path of recovery and growth, leveraging its strengths while navigating the challenges.

Details pertaining to remuneration of Directors and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) as required under Section 197 (12) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 5(1) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of

Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014

1) The percentage increase in remuneration of each Director, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary during the financial year 2023-24, ratio of the remuneration of each Director to the median remuneration of the employees of the Company for the financial year 2023-24 and the comparison of remuneration of each Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) against the performance of the Company are as under:

Sr. Name of the Director/ KMP & Designation No	% increase/ (decrease) in Remuneration in the financial year 2023-24	Ratio of Remuneration of each Director/ to median remuneration of employees
1 Mr. Najib Shah Independent Director	119%	2.78:1
2 Mr. V. Chandrasekaran Independent Director	35%	1.97:1
3 Mr. Adesh Kumar Gupta Independent Director Ms. Sonal Desai	36%	1.93:1
4 Independent Director	41%	1.74:1
5 Dr. M Mathisekaran Independent Director Mr. Gurumoorthy Mahalingam*	60%	1.66:1
6 Independent Director (w.e.f. November 21, 2022) Mr. Sobhag Mal Jain*	NA	NA
7 Non-Executive Non-Independent Director (w.e.f. January 28, 2023) Mr. Mehul Pandya	NA	NA
8 Managing Director & Group CEO„ Ms. Nehal Shah	1%	27.59:1
9 Company Secretary & Compliance Officer Mr. Jinesh Shah	2%	9.51:1
10 Chief Financial Officer	7%	7.15:1

* Remuneration received in FY 2023-24 is not comparable with remuneration received in FY 2022-23 as it was for part of the year and hence not stated

2) The percentage increase in the median remuneration of employees in the Financial Year 2023-24:

The median remuneration of employees of the Company during the financial year 2023-24 was Rs 13,00,020/-. The percentage increase in the median remuneration of employees in the financial year stood at 15.56% compared to the financial year 2022-23.

3) Average percentile increases already made in the salaries of employees other than the managerial personnel in the last financial year and its comparison with the percentile increase in the managerial remuneration and justification thereof and point out if there are any exceptional circumstances for increase in the managerial remuneration:

The average increase in remuneration for FY 202324 over FY 2022-23 was 10.36% for employees, excluding the KMPs. In comparison, the average increase in remuneration of KMPs during the same period was 3.13%.

4) The number of permanent employees on the rolls of the Company:

As of March 31, 2024, there were 563 full time employees compared with 517 last year with around 81% of the staff management professionally qualified in the areas of management, CA, CS, legal, economics, engineering etc. holding professional or post graduate degrees.

5) Affirmation that the remuneration is as per the remuneration policy of the Company:

It is hereby affirmed that the remuneration paid is as per the Companys Remuneration Policy for Directors, Key Managerial Personnel and Senior Management.