HeidelbergCement India Limited

Report on the Audit of the Financial Statements

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of HeidelbergCement India Limited (“the Company”), which comprise the balance sheet as at 31 March 2023, and the statement of Profit and Loss including other comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the aforesaid financial statements give the information required by the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”) in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the Indian Accounting Standards prescribed under Section 133 of the Act read with the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended and other accounting principles generally accepted in India, of the state of affairs of the Company as at 31 March 2023, and profit and total comprehensive income, changes in equity and its cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing (SAs) specified under Section 143(10) of the Act. Our responsibilities under those Standards are further described in the Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements section of our report. We are independent of the Company in accordance with the Code of Ethics issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (“the ICAI”) together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements under the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereunder, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and the ICAI's 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

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements of the current period. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. We have determined the matter described below to be the key audit matter to be communicated in our report.

Provisions and contingencies with respect to litigations Description of the Key audit matter

The Company has been operating in multiple locations over the years and thus has been subject to variety of laws,

regulations and interpretations. There are litigations which have been pending for long and the outcome of which is not certain. In the normal course of business, provisions and contingent liabilities may arise from legal proceedings, including regulatory and other governmental proceedings, as well as audit by authorities and commercial claims. As at 31 March 2023, the company held provision for litigations of MINR 2,040.1 against which a sum of MINR 1,675.6 has been deposited under protest. Given the highly complex nature of regulatory and legal cases, management applies judgement when considering whether, and how much, to provide for the potential exposure of each matter. These estimates could change over time as new facts emerge and each legal case progresses. Given the complexity and magnitude of potential exposures across the company, and the judgement necessary to determine required disclosures this is a key audit matter.

Description of the Auditor’s response

We assessed and tested the design and operating effectiveness of the controls set up to prevent or detect and correct errors relating to the recognition and measurement of provisions involving the use of judgment. We also discussed the status of significant known actual and potential litigation with the Head of Legal and Compliance and other senior management personnel who have knowledge of these matters. We challenged the decisions and rationale for provisions held or for decisions not to record provisions or make disclosures. For the most significant of the matters, we assessed relevant historical and recent judgments passed by the court authorities and considered legal opinion wherever obtained by management from external lawyers to validate the basis used for the provisions recorded and the disclosures made by the company. We also involved internal tax experts, because of the knowledge required for the respective tax regulations. We reviewed internal audit reports and met with Internal Audit team to identify actual and potential noncompliance with laws and regulations, both those specific to the company's business and those relating to the conduct of business generally and corrective action taken by the management in this regard. For those matters where management concluded that no provisions should be recorded, we also considered the adequacy and completeness of the company's disclosures made in relation to contingent liabilities. Based on the procedures performed above, we obtained sufficient audit evidence to corroborate management's estimates for provisions and disclosures in Note 32 relating to contingencies.

Information Other than the Financial Statements and Auditor's Report thereon

The Company's management and Board of Directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Company's annual report but does not include the financial statements and our auditors' report thereon.

Our opinion on the 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 financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. 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.

Management's Responsibility for the Financial Statements

The Company's Board of Directors is responsible for the matters stated in Section 134(5) of the Act with respect to the preparation of these financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance, total comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in India, including the Indian Accounting Standards 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 financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, 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.

The Board of Directors is also responsible for overseeing the company's financial reporting process.

Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an 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 financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with SAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. Under Section 143(3)(i) of the Act, we are also responsible for expressing our opinion on whether the company has adequate internal financial controls system in place and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of management's use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our 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 financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor's report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (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 A” a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Order, to the extent applicable.

2. As required by Section 143(3) of the Act, we report to the extent applicable that:

(a) We have sought and obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of our audit.

(b) In our opinion, proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as it appears from our examination of those books.

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

(d) In our opinion, the aforesaid financial statements comply with the Indian Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Act.

(e) On the basis of the written representations received from the directors as on 31 March 2023, taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors is disqualified as on 31 March 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 financial statements of the Company and the operating effectiveness of such controls, refer to our separate Report in “Annexure B”.

(g) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor’s Report in accordance with the requirements of Section 197(16) of the Act, as amended:

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the remuneration paid by the Company to its directors during the year is in accordance with the provisions of Section 197 of the Act.

(h) With respect to the other matters to be included in the Auditor’s Report in accordance with Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, 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 financial statements - Refer Note 32 to the financial statements;

ii. The Company did not have any long-term contracts including derivative contracts for which there were any material foreseeable losses;

iii. There were no amounts which were required to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the Company;

iv. (a) The Management has represented that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds (which are material either individually or in the aggregate) have been advanced or loaned or invested (either from borrowed funds or share premium or any other sources or kind of funds) by the Company to or in any other person or entity, including foreign entity (“Intermediaries”), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Intermediary shall, whether, directly or indirectly lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Company (“Ultimate Beneficiaries”) or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

(b) The Management has represented, that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, no funds (which are material either individually or in the aggregate) have been received by the Company from any person or entity, including foreign entity (“Funding Parties”), with the understanding, whether recorded in writing or otherwise, that the Company shall, whether, directly or indirectly, lend or invest in other persons or entities identified in any manner whatsoever by or on behalf of the Funding Party (“Ultimate Beneficiaries”) or provide any guarantee, security or the like on behalf of the Ultimate Beneficiaries;

(c) Based on the audit procedures that have been considered reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, nothing has come to our notice that has caused us to believe that the representations under sub-clause (i) and (ii) of Rule 11(e), as provided under (a) and (b) above, contain any material misstatement;

v. The dividend declared or 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 is applicable for the Company only w.e.f. 01 April 2023, therefore, reporting under Rule 11(g) of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014, as amended, is not applicable.

For S. N. Dhawan & Co LLP

Chartered Accountants

Firm Registration No.: 000050N/N500045

Rajeev Kumar Saxena

Partner

Membership No.: 077974

UDIN No.: 23077974BGXFFF7295

Place: Gurugram

Date: 29 May 2023