ICRA Ltd

Dear Shareholders,

At ICRA, unlocking our potential is about building a mindset, focusing on a collective vision and exerting consistent efforts aimed at perfection. FY2023 has been one such unrelenting pursuit to explore, enhance and expand possibilities. In the process, we further strengthened our credentials and sharpened our value proposition.

For us at ICRA, the past few years have been about taking consistent steps forward and transforming the organisation. We have identified four critical pillars of growth - Credibility, Technology, Analytics, and Diversity. Our processes, people, and Quality of insights have fortified our credibility. We continue to invest in state-of-the-art technology - leading to better efficiency across the company - thereby making ICRA an agile organisation. Most of who we are as a company is identified through our talent pool. We have proactively focused on talent identification and development and diversity - building an open, empowered and aspirational workforce. We continue to develop a future- ready business - banking on analytics as the growth engine in a data-rich, automated and homogeneously emerging world. Our analytics business enables us to use our intellectual capital, customised processes and reporting ability to tap domestic and global clients. We are targeting a healthy 50:50 revenue mix between our ratings and non-ratings businesses in the next few years.

The year began with a lot of promises and some uncertainties. The aftermath of the pandemic and the ongoing socio-geopolitical uncertainties led to a bleak economic outlook; high inflation, supply chain challenges, unemployment and unprecedented rate hikes. Amidst the worldwide turmoil, India continued to be relatively stable. The timely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India with a series of rate increases kept a leash on inflation. Concerted diplomatic efforts contributed to the country's energy security. The year also witnessed a series of investments from the Government and the PSUs, especially in the core infrastructure area.

Economic growth, however, demands an efficient and trusted credit environment. The country's financial markets, primarily the debt capital market, are yet to mature. The Regulators have increased their supervisory rigour on the premise that, while the road ahead is full of opportunities, there is a need to tread cautiously and responsibly.

Our efforts have yielded promising results in FY2023. Our revenues from operations increased by 18% and profit after tax (PAT) increased by 20%. The PAT margin stood at 34% and more importantly, improved thereby validating our efforts.

We continue with our engagement in the CSR space. Ever since our inception, we have been investing in communities across India. Our vision of empowering communities - primarily women, youth, and children from underprivileged backgrounds, translated into sustained initiatives across education, skill development and entrepreneurial support verticals. Each of our ICRA team members proudly supports these causes through employee engagement initiatives all through the year.

I thank you for being an invaluable part of the ICRA family on behalf of my team. The value unlocked has just been one more step towards a larger goal. The journey has just begun, and as a team of ambitious, mature, responsible, and innovation-loving people, we at ICRA are determined to to go places and in the process, we will establish ourselves as a globally integrated knowledge powerhouse creating value for our stakeholders. I leave you on this note of optimism.