Your directors take pleasure in presenting the Annual Report together with the Audited AnnualAccounts of your Company for the year ended March 31, 2024.
(Amount in Rs. hundreds)
Standalone
Consolidated
Financial Results
FY 2023-24
FY 2022-23
Particulars
Amount
i. Total Revenue
3,17,302
54,337
ii. Earnings Before Interest,Depreciation, Taxation andAmortization (EBIDTA)
(1,59,702)
6,137
iii. Finance Cost
23,505
23,730
iv. Profit before Taxation (PBT)
(185,569)
(22,292)
(1,85,569)
v. Tax
-
vi. Income Tax for earlier years
226
(343)
vii. Profit after Taxation(PAT)
(1,73,689)
(34,055)
viii. Share of Profit/ (Loss) ofAssociate
5,804
6,513
ix. Profit / Loss for the period
(1,67,885)
(27,542)
x. Other ComprehensiveIncome (net of tax)
2,18,565
23,504
26,319
xi. Total ComprehensiveIncome
1964
(10,550)
50,680
(1,222)
xii. Profit brought forward fromprevious year
130,604
1,56,300
1,83,545
2,02,731
xiii. Surplus/ (Deficit) in theStatement of Profit & LossAccount
xiv. Transfer to General Reserve
Nil
xv. Transfer from OCI Reserve
2,30,086
8,357
2,30,090
xvi. Balance Carried to BalanceSheet
1,87,001
1,30,602
2,31,117
The Company is engaged in the business of Trading of goods, shares and securities andinvestments in Mutual Funds, Shares & Securities and has earned revenue of Rs. 317.30 lakhscompared to Rs. 54.38 lakhs than last year
Your Company has incurred a net loss of Rs. 173.69 lakhs during the year compared to the netloss of Rs. 34.06 lakhs in the previous year. A detailed review of the operations, performance ofthe Company and its business is given in the Management Discussion & Analysis, which formspart of the Annual Report.
There is no change in the business of the Company during the financial year 2023-24.
The Company has reported total revenue of Rs. 108.54 lakhs during the year as compared to Rs.90.94 lakhs in the previous year and has earned a Net Profit of Rs. 86.76 lakhs as compared to anet profit of Rs. 31.79 lakhs in the previous year.
The Associate Company has not directly contributed to the Revenue and the profit earned sincethey have not passed on any profit to the Company earned by them.
Your Company is making all efforts to accelerate the growth of its business. In spite of the marketrisk faced by your Company, your Directors are optimistic about the future prospects of theCompany.
In view of the loss incurred by Company, the Board is unable to declare any dividend on equityshares of the Company for the financial year ended 31st March, 2024.
The Company has not issued any shares during the financial year under review.
Since there is no profit during the year, the Board is unable to transfer any amount to theReserves.
The Company has not accepted any deposit during the year under review.
Pursuant to the Directors Responsibility Statement as referred to in section 134(3) (c) and 134(5)of the Companies Act, 2013, your Directors hereby confirm that:
i) In the preparation of the annual accounts, the applicable accounting standards have beenfollowed along with proper explanation relating to material departures;
ii) The Directors have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and madejudgments and estimates that are reasonable and pmdent so as to give a true and fair view ofthe state of affairs of the Company at the end of the financial year and of the loss of theCompany for that period;
iii) The Directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequateaccounting records in accordance with the provisions of this Act for safeguarding the assets ofthe Company and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;
iv) The Directors have prepared the annual accounts on a going concern basis;
v) The Directors, have laid down internal financial controls to be followed by the Company andthat such internal financial controls are adequate and were operating effectively; and
vi) The Directors have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of allapplicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating effectively.
Information related to conservation of energy, Research & Development, technology absorption,foreign exchange earnings and outgo as required under section 134(3)(m) of the Companies Act,2013 and Rule 8(3) of Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 are given in the Annexure - ‘A’ asattached hereto and forming part of this Report.
Your Company has practiced sound Corporate Governance and taken necessary actions atappropriate times for enhancing and meeting stakeholders’ expectations while continuing tocomply with the mandatory provisions of Corporate Governance. Your Company has compliedwith the requirements of applicable Regulations of Securities & Exchange Board of India (ListingObligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 as issued by Securities andExchange Board of India and as amended from time to time. Your Company has given itsdeliberations to provide all the information in the Directors Report and the Corporate GovernanceReport as per the requirements of Companies Act 2013 and the Listing Agreement entered by theCompany with the Stock Exchange, as a matter of prudence and good governance.
A Report on Corporate Governance along with a certificate from M/s N K S J & Associates,Chartered Accountants, Statutory Auditors of the Company regarding compliance of conditions ofCorporate Governance and certification by CEO & CFO are given in Annexure - ‘B\ ‘C’ & ‘D’respectively.
The Code of Conduct for Directors, KMPs and Senior Executive of the Company is already inforce and the same has been placed on the Company’s website: www.adarshmercantile.in and thedeclaration to this effect is given in Annexure - ‘E’.
In terms of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015, your Company hasalready adopted the Code of Conduct for prevention of Insider Trading and the same is alsoplaced on the Company’s website: www.adarshmercantile.in Further, in accordance with theprovisions of Regulation 8 of SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015, the Boardof Directors of the Company have adopted the code of practices and procedures for fair disclosureof Unpublished Price Sensitive Information and formulated the code of conduct of the Company.
A report on Management Discussion &Analysis is given in the Annexure - ‘F’ to this report.
The ratio of the remuneration of each Executive Director and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP)to the median employee’s remuneration’s as per Section 197(12) of the Companies Act, 2013 readwith Rule 5 of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules,2014 has been set out as Annexure - ‘G’ to this Report, attached hereto.
The website of your Company, www.adarshmercantile.in has been designed to present theCompany’s businesses up-front on the home page. The site carries a comprehensive database ofinformation including the Financial Results of your Company, Shareholding pattern, Director’s &Corporate Profile, details of Board Committees, Corporate Policies and business activities of yourCompany. All the mandatory information and disclosures as per the requirements of theCompanies Act, 2013 and Companies Rules 2014 and as per the SEBI (Listing Obligations &Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 has been uploaded.
The shares of the Company are presently listed at BSE Limited. The Company is registered withboth NSDL and CDSL for holding the shares in dematerialized form and open for trading. TheCompany has paid fees to the Depositories.
Mr. Aritra Basu (DIN :06779222), Director of the Company, pursuant to the provisions of Section152(6) and other applicable provisions, of the Companies Act, 2013, retires by rotation at theensuing Annual General Meeting and being eligible, offered himself for re-appointment.
The present Whole-time Key Managerial Personnel of the Company as on 31st March, 2024 are asfollows: -
i. Mrs. Suchita Chhawchharia - Executive Director
ii. Mr. Shiv Shankar Sharma - Chief Financial Officer
iii. Ms. Radhika Mayaramka - Company Secretary and Compliance Officer
During the year under review, there was no change in the composition of the Board of Directors.During the year under review:
• Ms. Salu Agarwal appointed as Company Secretary and Compliance Officer on21.04.2024 and resigned on 05.07.2023.
• Ms. Kajol Modi appointed as Company Secretary and Compliance Officer on 18.09.2023and resigned on 04.12.2023.
• Ms. Radhika Mayaramka was appointed as Company Secretary and Compliance Officerw.e.f. 08.02.2024
None of the Directors of the Company are disqualified as per section 164(2) of the CompaniesAct, 2013 and mles made thereunder or any other provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. TheDirectors have also made necessary disclosures to the extent as required under provisions ofsection 184(1) as applicable. In accordance with Section 149(7) of the Act, each IndependentDirector has given a written declaration to the Company confirming that he/she meets the criteriaof independence as mentioned under Section 149(6) of the Act and Regulation 16(1) (b) of SEBI(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
All members of the Board of Directors and senior management personnel affirmed compliancewith the code of conduct of Board of Directors and Senior Management on an annual basis.
Your Company is not falling under the purview of section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 andthe relevant Rules made there under. Thus the Board is not required to constitute the CSRCommittee and nor has to comply with any of the provisions thereof.
The present Statutory Auditor, M/s NKSJ & Associates, (Firm Registration No. 329563E),Chartered Accountants, holds office upto the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting(AGM) to be held for the Financial Year 2024-25.
The observations made by the Statutory Auditors in their Auditors Report together with thenotes to accounts, as append thereto areself-explanatory and hence does not call for anyfurther explanation.
The Company had appointed M/s NST & Associates, Chartered Accountants, as the InternalAuditors of the Company for the Financial Year 2023-24 and they have furnished their report.The Board has re-appointed them as Internal Auditors for the FY 2024-25.
The Board had appointed Mr. Santosh Kumar Tibrewalla, Practicing Company Secretary, asthe Secretarial Auditor of the Company to carry out the Secretarial Audit for the year 2023-24under the provisions of Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013. The report of the SecretarialAuditor in Form MR 3 is enclosed as Annexure - ‘H’ to this Board’s Report, which is self¬explanatory and hence do not call for any further explanation.
Pursuant to Regulation 24A of the SEBI Listing Regulation and recent amendment on thesame thereto, Every Listed entity and its material unlisted subsidiaries incorporated in Indiashall undertake secretarial audit and shall annex a Secretarial Compliance Report given by acompany secretary in practice, in such form as specified, with the annual report of the listedentity.
The Company during the year under review does not have any material unlisted subsidiaryand herewith attached as Annexure -‘I’. The Secretarial Compliance Report issued by Mr.Santosh Kumar Tibrcwalla. Practicing Company Secretary (CP No. 3982) for the year endedon 31st March, 2024.
All transaction entered with related parties during the FY 2023-24 were on arm’s length basisand were in the ordinary course of business and provisions of Section 188(1) are not attracted.
There have been no materially significant related party transactions with the Company’sPromoters, Directors and others as defined in section 2(76) of the Companies Act, 2013 andRegulation 23 of SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015which may have potential conflict of interest with the Company at large.
The necessary disclosures regarding the related party transactions in accordance to the INDAS required in Form-AOC-2 are given in the notes to accounts. The Company has alsoformulated a policy on dealing with the Related Party Transactions and necessary approval ofthe Audit Committee and Board of Directors were taken wherever required in accordance withthe Policy. The Company has not entered into any specific contract with related parties.
Since the Company has entered into transaction with its Associates, firms/ Companies inwhich Directors are interested disclosure as per Para A of Schedule V is provided in Notes tothe Accounts under ‘Related Party Disclosures’.
The Board of Directors met 10 (Ten) times in the year 2023-24. The Details of the Boardmeeting and attendance of the Directors are provided in the Corporate Governance Report,attached as Annexure to this Board’s Report.
4 (Four) Committees of Directors are in force as on March 31, 2024 viz.the Audit Committee,the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, the Stakeholder’s Relationship Committee andthe Share Transfer Committee. A detail note on the Committee is provided in the CorporateGovernance Report section of this Annual Report.
The Audit Committee comprises of three Non-Executive Directors including two IndependentDirectors as on March 31, 2024.
• Manish Khaitan - Non Executive Independent Director
• Sundar Lai Mohta - Non-Executive Independent Director
• AritraBasu - Non-Executive Director
Pursuant to Section 134(3)(a) of the Companies Act, 2013 and amendments thereof, theAnnual Return of the Company is placed on the website of the company atwww.adarshmercantile.in.
This Annual Return is subject to such changes / alterations / modifications as may berequired to carry out subsequent to the adoption of the Directors’ Report by theShareholders at the Annual general Meeting and receipt of Certificate from PracticingCompany Secretary (PCS) which the Shareholders agree and empower the Board /Company and a copy of the final Annual Return as may be filed with the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs would be furnished on the website of the Company.
The Board has developed and implemented a risk management policy identifying therein theelements of risk that may threaten the existence of the Company. The Company has amechanism that helps the Board to keep an overall watch on the business risks and informs theBoard members about the evaluation, and estimation of the levels of risks involved in asituation, their comparison against benchmarks or standards, and determination of anacceptable level of risk and mitigation plans and periodical reviews are undertaken to ensurethat the critical risks are controlled by the executive management.
The Company has in place adequate internal financial control to ensure the orderly andefficient conduct of its business, including adherence to the Company’s policy, safeguarding ofits assets, the prevention and detection of fraud, error reporting mechanism, the accuracy andcompleteness of the accounting records, and the timely preparation of reliable financialdisclosures.
The Company has in place adequate internal financial control as required under section 134(5)(e) of the Act and the same was evaluated by the Audit Committee. During the year suchcontrols were tested with reference to financial statements and no material weakness in theformulation or operations were observed. The Statutory Auditors of the Company conductedaudit on the Company’s internal financial control over financial reporting and the report of thesame is annexed with Auditor’s Report.
During the year under review, your Company has invested and deployed its surplus funds inSecurities and given loan which is within the overall limit and within the powers of the Boardas applicable to the Company in terms of section 179 and 186 of the Companies Act, 2013.The particulars of all such loans, guarantees and investments are entered in the registermaintained by the Company for the purpose.
There is no material changes in commitments affecting the financial position of the Companyoccurred since the end of the Financial Year 2023-24.
As on 31st March, 2024, Company has only one associate i.e. M/s. Avon Credit Pvt. Ltd. andthere is no Company which has become or ceased to be the Company’s subsidiary, jointventure or associate Company during the year under review.
As per the provision of Section 129(3) and rule 5 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014the statement in AOC-1 containing the salient features of the financial statement of theassociate Company is given in Annexure -‘J\
The consolidated financial statement in this Annual Report is as per the Indian AccountingStandards specified under section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”). Inaccordance with Section 136 of the Act, the audited financial statements, including theconsolidated financial statements and related information will be available on our website.
These documents will also be available for inspection during business hours on all workingdays except Saturday at the Registered Office of the Company and also on the date of theAGM. The Company will also make available copy on specific request by any member ofthe Company, interested in obtaining the same.
In accordance to regulation 33 of Securities & Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligationsand Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the Company opts to submit consolidatedfinancial results only on Annual basis and the same has been intimated to the Stockexchange.
The Board has in place a formal mechanism for evaluating its performance and as well as thatof its Committees and individual Directors, including the Chairman of the Board incompliance with the Companies Act, 2013 and applicable Regulations of Securities &Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations,2015.The evaluation was carried out through a structured evaluation process covering variousaspects of the Boards functioning such as composition of the Board & Committees,experience & competencies, performance of specific duties & obligations, governance issuesetc. Separate exercise was carried out to evaluate the performance of individual Directorsincluding the Board, as a whole and the Chairman, who were evaluated on parameters such astheir participation, contribution at the meetings and otherwise, independent judgments,safeguarding of minority shareholders interest etc.
The evaluation of the Independent Directors was carried out by the entire Board and that ofthe Chairman and the Non-Independent Directors were carried out by the IndependentDirectors in their separate meeting. The Directors were satisfied with the evaluation results,which reflected the overall engagement of the Board and its Committees with the Company.
The evaluation of the Independent Directors was carried out by the entire Board and that ofthe Chairman and the Non-Independent Directors were carried out by the IndependentDirectors in their separate meeting.
The Directors were satisfied with the evaluation results, which reflected the overallengagement of the Board and its Committees with the Company.
The Company on recommendation of its Nomination & Remuneration Committee has laiddown a Nomination, Remuneration and Evaluation Policy, in compliance with the provisionsof the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Rules made therein and SEBI (LODR) Regulations,2015 (as amended from time to time). This Policy is formulated to provide a framework andset standards in relation to the followings and details on the same are given in the website ofyour Company, www.adarshmercantile.in:
a. Criteria for appointment and removal of Directors, Key Managerial Personnel (KMP),Senior Management Executives of the Company.
b. Remuneration payable to the Directors, KMPs and Senior Management Executives.
c. Evaluation of the performance of the Directors.
d. Criteria for determining qualifications, positive attributes and independence of a Director.
The Company has adopted a whistle-blower mechanism for Directors, employees and otherperson to report concerns about unethical behaviour, actual or suspected fraud or violation ofthe Company’s code of conduct and ethics. The Audit Committee oversees the vigilmechanism and the persons who avail the mechanism are encouraged to escalate to the levelof the Audit Committee for any issue of concerns impacting and compromising with theinterest of the Company and its stakeholders in any way. This policy also allows the directaccess to the Chairperson of the Audit Committee.
The Company is committed to adhere to highest possible standards of ethical, moral and legalbusiness conduct and to open communication and to provide necessary safeguards forprotection of Directors and employees from reprisals or victimization, for whistle blowing ingood faith.
Details of establishment of the Vigil Mechanism have been uploaded on the Company’swebsite: www.adarshmercantile.in and also set out in the Corporate Governance Reportattached as Annexure to this Board’s Report.
The Company has complied with provisions relating to the constitution of InternalComplaints Committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
Secretarial Standards, i.e., SS-1, SS-2 and SS-3 relating to ‘Meetings of the Board ofDirectors’ ‘General Meetings’ and ‘Dividend’, respectively, to the extent as applicable havebeen duly followed by the Company.
The Company has in place an Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy in line with the requirements of theSexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) has been set up to redress complaints received regardingsexual harassment. All employees (permanent, contractual, temporary, trainees) are covered underthis Policy. The Policy is gender neutral. During the year under review, no complaints withallegations of sexual harassment were filed.
The industrial relation during the year 2023-24 had been cordial. The Directors take on record thededicated services and significant efforts made by the Officers, Staff and Workers towards theprogress of the Company.
There have been no significant & material orders passed by regulators / courts / tribunalsimpacting going concern status and Company’s operations in future.
Your Directors take this opportunity to place on record their gratitude to the Central and StateGovernments, Bankers and Investors for their continuous support, cooperation and their valuableguidance to the Company and for their trust reposed in the Company’s management. TheDirectors also commend the continuing commitment and dedication of the employees at all levelsand the Directors look forward to their continued support in future.
(DIN: 00044063) (DIN: 06779222)