Dear Members,

It gives me immense pleasure to communicate with you, our esteemed shareholder family, about the performance of your Company for the year and our journey going forward.

Your Company continues to strive to create value for our shareholders through a prudent management of the Treasury assets and ensuring business strategies of companies in which it has invested. We are focused towards creating long term shareholder value along with good steady dividends. As a responsible corporate citizen it continues to carry out its responsibility to the society at large by supporting projects which improve the living conditions of the underprivileged.

India continues to remain a high growth economy, giving tremendous opportunities to dynamic companies such as ours to diversify and grow. The fiscal year 2016-17 saw the economy consolidating the gains from steps taken by the Government to ensure macroeconomic stability. The year saw two major policy decisions - Demonetisation and introduction of Goods and Service Tax (GST). Both the steps involve major structural changes and are expected to deliver value in the long term. The smooth implementation of both initiatives is testimony to the Governments' planning and execution skills.

With respect to your Company's subsidiaries' operations, it remains focused on the Media and Entertainment Industry. I am happy to inform you that with the necessary approvals having been received from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the Headend-in-the-Sky ("HITS") business of Grant Investrade Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of your Company has been merged with the Cable TV business of IndusInd Media & Communications Limited ("IMCL"), another subsidiary of your Company. This arrangement will enhance shareholders value by consolidating the Digital Media distribution businesses and will help to rationalise the group structure by optimizing the resources and integrating operational synergies both in revenue and costs. The combined entity will also be able to venture and grow in the newer areas and many upcoming linked digital technology value adds that would be relevant for this business and same set of customers.

With the successful leveraging of both the Cable and the HITS delivery platforms, IMCL today has:

• a presence in all the States and Union Territories of the Country, most districts and more than 1000 locations, addressing far flung cities, towns and villages where Cable TV has had no presence in the past;
• over 750 cities covered in all areas, right from Kargil in Kashmir in the North to Andaman and Nicobar in the deep south and right up to North East border areas of Arunachal and Meghalaya;
• a subscriber base of over 4 million;
• close to 97% of its customers on prepaid payment mode;
• introduced a Managed Services vertical to cater to such parties who want to use the HITS infrastructure
• won an award from a cable trade national body for being the first Multi-System Operator (MSO) to have introduced prepaid payment system;
• been delivering up to 300 Standard and High Definition channels on In Digital and 525 channels on the HITS platform.

The Indian Media and Entertainment industry on the back of strong economic fundamentals and steady growth in domestic consumption coupled with growing contribution of rural markets across key segments was able to sustain a stable growth in 2016.

Several factors like growing rural demand, increase in digital access and the expected culmination of digitization process will contribute to the positive long-term outlook for the Media and Entertainment industry.

During the year, the total Consolidated income of the Company increased to Rs. 826 Crores as against Rs. 679.98 Crores during the previous year 2015-16 and the total Standalone income of the Company was at Rs. 203.39 Crores as against Rs. 332.48 Crores during the previous year 2015-16.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Primary Health Care Centers

During the financial year 2014-15, the Company in consonance with its CSR objective to promote community healthcare, contributed to implement the CSR project of "Up-gradation of Primary Health Centre" at village Nandgaon, Taluka Jawhar, Palghar District Maharashtra with a view to improve quality, availability and efficiency of healthcare services in tribal areas.

During the financial year 2015-16, for providing access to basic healthcare facilitation to poor and under privileged people, the Company made contributions to Hinduja Foundation for its Primary Healthcare Project for Up-gradation of Primary Health Centers and Sub-Centers in Jawahar Taluka, Palghar District, Maharashtra.

The said contributions made by the Company was utilized by Hinduja Foundation during the year under review to develop inter alia the Primary Health Centres (PHCs), old and new toilet blocks, maternity wards so as to provide medical treatments to the population residing in the Jawahar Taluka, Maharashtra.

With this the Company's CSR objective to promote community healthcare by way of up-gradation of PHCs in Jawahar Taluka was satisfactorily attained.

During the financial year 2016-17, the Company has contributed Rs. 60 Lakhs to Hinduja Foundation towards Rural Development in Jawahar Taluka, Maharashtra for implementing a project on livelihood, sanitation and providing drinking water.

Way forward

Increasing long term shareholders' value continues to be the prime objective and your Company will keep evaluating emerging opportunities to invest and grow.

I would like to place on record my sincere appreciation of your unstinted support to the Company. I would also like to thank the Directors, Management and Employees for the good performance registered. Also, my thanks to our Bankers, Auditors and Advisors for their help and guidance during the year to maintain the highest standards of corporate governance, a top priority for the group.