Contents Board of Directors 3 Awards of Excellence 4 Letter to Shareholders 5 Directors’ Report 9 Corporate Governance Report 45 Standalone Financial Statements 75 Consolidated Financial Statements 149 Annual Report 2017-18 Awards of Excellence: 2017-2018 Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Best Interstitial Award: NDTV Good Times Awards 2017 – July 2017 Best Cinematography: RedDot f or The Last Drop Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularization of Science in 2017 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2016-2017 – December 2017 Pallav a Bagla - NDTV Hindi (Broadcast): Rav ish Kumar, NDTV India WAN-IFRA Awards for South Asia 2017 – Investigative Reporting (Broadcast): September 2017 Sree-niv asan Jain & Manas Pratap Singh, NDTV 24x7 Gold: Best News App – ndtv .com Silver: Best Innov ation to Engage Youth Audience Karnataka Union of Working Journalists – NDTV - Dettol Banega Swachh India Campaign Awards 2017 – January 2018 – NDTV Best Reporting of Human Interest Stories: May a Bronze: Best News Website – ndtv .com Sharma, NDTV 24x7 Bronze: Best Social Media Practices – ndtv .com ENBA 2017 (exchange4media) Awards – February 2018 Woodpcker International Film Festival 2017 – November 2017 Best News Channel of the Year – English: NDTV 24x7 Best Film - Art & Culture: NDTV f or Chamar Pop: Dalit Politics of Doab Best In-depth Series – English - Truth v s Hy pe: NDTV 24x7 CMS Vatavaran Festival – November 2017 Mumbai Press Club RedInk Awards 2018 – May Best Film on Water Conservation: RedDot f or 2018 The Last Drop Excellence in Environment Reporting Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards 2017 Sushil Chandra Bahuguna - NDTV – November 2017 Excellence in Business & Economy Reporting Best Television / Film Event: NDTV Gadget Guru Awards Sushil Kumar Mohapatra - NDTV India 4 Awards of Excellence Board of Directors 3 Annual Report 2017-18 Dear Shareholders Thank y ou f or standing with NDTV and being a part of its uncompromising ef f ort at independent journalism at a time when the world is scrutinizing whether the media in India is cav ing to pressure f rom political power. NDTV’s commitment to bringing its v iewers accurate, f air reportage is not unrecognized - it has won a major award as Asia’s Most-Trusted News Broadcaster* and ev ery day, your company and y our reporters are told that now, more than ev er, NDTV is relev ant in the most important aspect of journalism - speaking truth to power. We hav e taken many crucial steps to improv e NDTV’s perf ormance. Costs are being cut, operational ef f iciencies are being introduced and improv ed upon ev ery f ew months. NDTV’s declared mission, now sev eral y ears old, to place its digital content at the heart of the group, is being emulated today by ev ery other major media house. NDTV Conv ergence, the digital arm of the group, remains prof itable, a rarity f or online news content, and NDTV.com is the world’s 20th largest news website (as ranked by Comscore), bigger than f amous sites like Washington Post or Huf f ington Post. N DTV is the only Indian site to f eature in the world’s Top 20. With y our support, NDTV continues to consolidate its strengths, to f ight any attempt to subv ert its v oice of f earless journalism, and to be a f iscally responsible enterprise. This will be an exciting y ear f or all of us – it will giv e your NDTV a chance to show of f its strengths in election programming, its digital prowess with new properties being launched online including a phone-only news channel, its passion f or f ighting f or the rights and interests of an India that has room and respect f or every sort of v oice and belief . Thank y ou, dear shareholders, f or remaining the strength of NDTV. *(India region, awarded by IBC Infomedia, Asia’s Most Trusted Companies Awards) New Delhi Television Limited DIRECTORS’ REPORT DEAR MEMBERS, Your Directors hav e pleasure in presenting the Thirtieth (30th) Annual Report and audited f inancial statements of the Company f or the f inancial y ear ended March 31, 2018. FINANCIAL RESULTS AND STATE OF AFFAIRS The f inancial perf ormance of the Company (standalone and consolidated) for the year ended March 31, 2018 as compared to the prev ious f inancial y ear ended March 31, 2017 is summarized as under:- (Rs. in Million) Year ended Year ended Year ended Year ended 31.03.2018 31.03.2017 31.03.2018 31.03.2017 Directors’ Report 9 Annual Report 2017-18 Standalone Consolidated Business Income 3 ,003.26 3,777.62 4,290.07 4,899.89 Other Income 1 13.21 124.41 106.99 114.65 Total Income 3 ,116.47 3,902.03 4,397.06 5,014.54 Prof it/(Loss) bef ore exceptional and (491.50) (369.81) (613.62) (711.05) extra-ordinary items and tax Share in Prof it/(Loss) of associate - - 17.14 2.03 Exceptional items 74.00 136.27 74.00 Current Tax 3.04 7.07 124.19 80.08 Def erred Tax credit - - (9.78) (1.10) Tax f or earlier y ears (3.50) (0.26) (3.56) (0.24) Prof it/(Loss) af ter Tax (614.36) (450.62) (843.60) (861.76) Remeasurement of def ined benef it (34.44) (9.98) (38.55) (11.00) obligations Total comprehensive income / (648.80) (460.60) (882.15) (872.76) (loss) for the year Non controlling interest - - (43.50) (57.68) Other comprehensive income is - - (0.27) (0.16) attributable to: Non controlling interest Prof it /(Loss) f or the y ear carried to (648.80) (460.60) (838.92) (815.00) Reserv es and Surplus Balance Prof it/(Loss) brought (2,494.60) (2,034.00) (2,940.22) (2,125.08) f orward f rom prev ious y ear Balance as at the end of the y ear (3,143.40) (2,494.60) (3,779.14) (2,940.22) Earning Per Share (9.53) (6.99) (12.41) (12.47) CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS In accordance with the prov isions of the Companies Act, 2013, the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), 2015 and IND AS 110 – Consolidated Financial Statements read with IND AS 28 – Inv estments in Associates and IND AS 31 – Interests in Joint Ventures, the audited consolidated f inancial statements are prov ided in the Annual Report. OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS A detailed rev iew of the Company ’s operations has been prov ided in the Management Discussion and Analy sis Report in terms of Regulation 34 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), 2015 which f orms part of this Report. TRANSFER TO RESERVES The Company has not made any transf er to the reserv e during the f inancial y ear 2017-18. DIVIDEND In v iew of the loss, no div idend has been recommended f or the f inancial y ear 2017-18. DEPOSITS The Company has not accepted/renewed any deposits f rom the public during the y ear and there are no outstanding deposits. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY In v iew of the loss incurred, prov isions of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 relating to incurring expenditure on Corporate Social Responsibility , are not applicable to the Company . Howev er, as a responsible corporate, the Company has taken v arious initiativ es f or the benef it of the society and v arious other stakeholders, the details of which are prov ided in this Report as Annexure 1. 10 Directors’ Report Annual Report 2017-18 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The Company has complied with the corporate gov ernance requirements, as stipulated under the v arious regulations of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 and the Companies Act, 2013. A report on Corporate Gov ernance along with certif icate on its compliance f orms a part of the Annual Report. SUBSIDIARIES AND ASSOCIATE COMPANIES As per the approv als of the Board of Directors and the members of the Company , NDTV Networks Limited (“Networks”), a subsidiary of the Company , had completed the sale of its 2% shareholding, held in Lif estyle & Media Holdings Limited (formerly known as NDTV Lifestyle Holdings Limited) (“Lifestyle Holdco”) to Nameh Hotels & Resorts Priv ate Limited (“Nameh”), on March 30, 2018. Consequently , Lif esty le Holdco and its direct and indirect subsidiaries i.e. Lif esty le & Media Broadcasting Limited (f ormerly known as NDTV Lifestyle Limited), Indianroots Shopping Limited (formerly known as NDTV Ethnic Retail Limited) and Indianroots Retail Priv ate Limited, ceased to be subsidiaries of the Company w.e.f . March 30, 2018. Howev er, now these entities are Joint Ventures and the Company is currently holding 49% shareholding of Lif esty le Holdco through Networks. The Company and NDTV Conv ergence Limited (“Convergence”), a subsidiary of the Company , will be selling of f their entire stake in Special Occasions Limited (“SOL”), another subsidiary of the Company. The Company and Conv ergence own and hold, collectiv ely 95% of the total, issued, subscribed and paid-up equity share capital of SOL, which will be sold to Wedding Junction Priv ate Limited, f or Rs. 100 per equity share. Pursuant to the completion of the af orementioned sale of stake by the Company and Conv ergence, SOL will cease to be a subsidiary of the Company . This is also in keeping with the Company ’s stated position of concentrating only on its core business and mov ing out of the ancillary businesses. The Board of Directors approv ed the sale of the entire stake of the Company in SOL, at their meeting held on July 18, 2018.