LEI: 213800KX5ZS1NGAR2J89

ASHOKA INDIA EQUITY INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

HALF-YEARLY REPORT

Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc hereby submits its Half-Yearly Report for the six months ended 31 December 2025 as required by the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 4.2.

The Half-Yearly Report is being published in hard copy format and a copy has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and it will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism and on the Company's web pages at www.ashokaindiaequity.com.

Enquiries:

NSM Funds (UK) Limited

[email protected]

Investment Objective, Financial Information and Performance Summary

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust PLC (the "Company") is to achieve long-term capital appreciation, mainly through investment in securities listed in India and listed securities of companies with a significant presence in India.

Financial information

Performance summary

¹     These are Alternative Performance Measures.

²     Total returns in sterling for the 6 month period ended 31 December 2025 and 2024.

³     Source: Ashoka WhiteOak Capital Pte. Ltd.

Alternative Performance Measures ("APMs")

The disclosures as indicated in the footnote above represent the Company's APMs. Definitions of these APMs and other performance measures used by the Company, together with how these measures have been calculated, can be found in the Half Yearly Report.

Chairman's Statement

On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to present the half-year financial report of Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc for the six-month period ended 31 December 2025.

The period under review saw volatility across the globe, with emerging markets, including India, influenced by continued geopolitical tensions, shifts in global monetary policy, currency movements and broader macroeconomic uncertainty. Despite these external headwinds, the Company's investment team continued to execute its disciplined investment approach, prioritising high-quality businesses with sustainable competitive advantages, strong cashflows and class-leading corporate governance standards capable of delivering attractive long-term returns for shareholders.

Performance

For the half year to 31 December 2025, the Company's share price and net asset value (NAV) recorded total returns in sterling terms of (3.2)% and (3.1)% each respectively compared to the benchmark, the MSCI India IMI Index (the untaxed benchmark index, in sterling terms) of (2.3)%.

Whilst market sentiment has moderated short-term returns, the Board remains confident that the Company's focus on fundamental quality, corporate governance, valuation discipline and long-term compounding will continue to reward patient shareholders. Since launch, Ashoka India Equity has established a strong record of relative and absolute performance, building on its strategy to capture structural growth opportunities across the Indian equity universe, with a tilt towards the expanding small and mid-cap sectors and a limited exposure to unlisted companies. Since 31 July 2018 to 31 December 2025, the share price and NAV total returns are 169.9% and 172.1% against the return from the benchmark of 88.1%, an impressive outperformance of 81.8% and 84.0% respectively. Whilst short-term NAV and share price returns may lag in certain periods of global uncertainty, as we have seen in the period under review, the Board judges that the Company's investment philosophy remains robust in all market environments.

During the period, the Investment Manager maintained its preferred sector allocation tilted, as mentioned, towards the medium and smaller end of the market, but with a decent weighting in larger companies, where prospects for sustainable earnings growth remain favourable. Consistent with prior periods, the Board has engaged with the Investment Manager on portfolio positioning, risk management and valuation, ensuring alignment with the Company's long-term investment objective. As a consequence, the Board asked shareholders to approve a modest change to the Company's investment policy at its AGM on 10 December 2025 that now permits increased exposure to unquoted companies up to a higher threshold - a maximum 15% of gross assets at the time of investment - reflecting our belief that selective private company exposure can contribute meaningfully to long-term returns.

Performance Fee

A performance fee is being accrued for the current three-year period, the measurement of which runs from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2027, as a result of outperformance of the Company's benchmark index to date. As at 31 December 2025, this amounted to £14,721,000 and is fully reflected and accrued in the Company's daily net asset value announcements.

Operational Developments and Governance

In line with its stated Director succession policy and following a comprehensive, independently-sourced selection process, the Company has chosen two new Directors to join the Board.

I am delighted to welcome Sarah MacAulay and Karen Roydon to the Board of Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc. Both have the necessary skills and experience to complement those of the existing Directors and to help drive the Company's desire to ensure shareholders' best interests are maintained over future years. Sarah joined on 24 February 2026 and Karen will be joining on 5 June 2026.

I would also like to record my sincere thanks, and that of my fellow Directors, to Rita Dhut who retires from the Board on 30 June 2026. Rita has been with us from the very beginning in 2018 and her contribution and personal attributes have added a great deal to all Board discussions and decisions as the Company has grown significantly over the last eight years.

Succession planning will continue over the next two years.

Share issuance

The Board continues to monitor discount control, liquidity, share issuance and other aspects of capital management to support alignment with shareholders' interests. These priorities remain central to our oversight of the Company's affairs as we seek to do our bit to enhance shareholder value over the long term. During the period under review and up to the date of this Half Yearly Report, the Company issued 1.125 million new shares, raising additional gross investment proceeds of £3.1 million. As usual, this demand came from a mix of existing shareholders and new investors.

Revenue and Dividends

The Company's principal objective is to provide returns through long-term capital appreciation, with income being a secondary consideration. Therefore, shareholders should not expect that the Company will pay an annual dividend under normal circumstances. Whilst the portfolio does generate a small amount of income, this is used to defray running costs. However, as I mentioned in the Company's Annual Report, due to the accrual of revenue received by default from the portfolio's investments, and in order to comply with rules governing investment trust status, a dividend of 0.5p per share was paid to shareholders on 31 October 2025. In the period under review, no interim dividend has been declared.

Outlook

India's domestic economy continues to demonstrate resilience, supported by robust consumption together with public and private investment. The attraction of India for investors continues with the structural reforms, digitilisation and supply chain diversification I have referred to once or twice before all reinforcing the appeal of the Indian market as a long-term investment destination.

My hope for a more peaceful world goes on but looking ahead, while near-term market conditions may remain influenced by global factors beyond India's control, the Board believes that the country's medium-to-long-term fundamentals remain compelling.

It is perhaps easy to overlook the fact that India is the world's fourth-largest economy but, as I said at the AGM, it is hard to imagine world economic growth over the next decade and beyond without India having a major role to play. The recent relaxation of US tariffs on trade with India only adds to and underlines the market's attraction for international investors.

The structural opportunities presented by India's economic growth, expanding domestic consumption and adoption of the latest technology remain firmly intact. Within this context, the Company is well positioned to navigate evolving market conditions and, as ever, your Board has the utmost confidence in the Investment Manager and Adviser to capitalise on opportunities that meet our rigorous investment criteria and are most likely to deliver long-term outperformance.

Thank you, as always, for your support of this Company, and to the Investment Manager and Adviser for their continued commitment to disciplined investment stewardship on your behalf.

Andrew Watkins

Chairman

25 February 2026

Investment Manager's Report

Performance Review

During the latter half of 2025, the Company's total NAV return underperformed the index by 0.8% delivering (3.1%), compared to (2.3%) for the MSCI India IMI (in sterling terms).

Since 31 July 2018 (the date post IPO when the Company was fully invested), the Company has delivered 84.0% of net cumulative outperformance, with a 172.1% absolute return compared to the benchmark return of 88.1%, both in sterling terms. Strong stock selection especially in mid and small caps has been the major driver of alpha.

Key contributors & detractors

Contributors

Le Travenues Technology (Ixigo) is a leading Online Travel Agent (OTA) operating in India with ~55% market share in third party railway bookings. It has established leadership in this segment on the back of a customer-centric approach, leveraging technology instead of capital to solve problems and successful monetization of its large user base. The company has been gaining market share in a duopolistic online bus-ticketing market and an oligopolistic online air-ticketing market on the back of strong product innovations and strengthening supplier base. It is now focusing on creating a differentiated product proposition in the hotels business for its wide customer base. The stock has performed well as the company continues to deliver market share gains across air, bus and trains on the back of improved user monetisation and product feature monetisation.

Lumax Auto Technologies (LATL) is a diversified Indian auto-components manufacturer with a broad portfolio spanning advanced plastics, structures and control systems, aftermarket, mechatronics, and newer adjacencies such as seat frames and alternate fuels. In FY25, the business mix was led by advanced plastics (~55%) and structures & control systems (~20%), with the remainder contributed by aftermarket, mechatronics, and alternate fuels, resulting in a balanced portfolio with multiple growth engines. The stock's recent outperformance is likely driven by the higher than expected growth through a healthy mix of inorganic and organic initiatives. Inorganic growth has been supported by strategic entry into alternate fuels (via Greenfuel) and deeper consolidation of IAC's India business which was acquired in 2023, while organic growth is being driven by ramp-up of existing platforms, new program wins and launches across OEMs, and operating leverage as scale builds.

State Bank of India (SBI) is the oldest public sector bank in India and has a heritage and legacy of over 200 years. It is the largest Indian bank across various metrics. The RBI has termed it a Domestic - Systemically Important Bank, i.e., it is 'too big to fail'. Over the years, it has maintained its market share, in contrast to its peers. Over the last few years, SBI's loan book composition has changed meaningfully with a considerable increase in the share of retail loans, which account for 36% of the loan for FY25 as compared to 19% in FY14. Asset quality has improved significantly, with gross and net non-performing asset ratios declining to 1.9% and 0.5%, respectively, in FY25, resulting in one of the lowest credit costs in the banking sector during the year. We expect SBI to comfortably deliver above industry level growth of 13-14% CAGR over the next couple of years with an ROA of 1.0% and ROE of ~15.0%. SBI has been an outperformer due to sustained good performance on growth, margin and asset quality.

Detractors

Trent, part of the Tata Group, is amongst the leading fashion retailers in India. The company operates two highly successful fashion retail formats - Westside and Zudio; it also runs a grocery retail chain and a few other smaller formats in the fashion and accessories space. Trent has carved a niche by following a highly process-driven operating playbook - its JV with Zara in India has provided learnings that the company has effectively implemented in Westside and Zudio. Over the last few years, Trent has delivered significant improvement in return ratios while also delivering strong growth - a rare feat in the extremely-challenging fashion retail space. That said, the company has seen deteriorating same store sales growth momentum in recent quarters, driven by a slowdown in discretionary consumption as well as sharp increase in competitive intensity, which could have led to the underperformance.

Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) is India's largest Mutual Fund Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA), commanding ~68% market share based on average mutual fund AUM. CAMS serves most of the largest mutual funds and has a high client retention rate. While maintaining leadership in the mutual fund RTA business, it has been able to diversify in Alternatives, KYC services, Insurance repository, Payments and account aggregation and other digital business lines, which contribute ~14% to its revenue and going forward and are likely to reduce the dependence on the RTA business. The revenue yield compression in recent quarters for the company was higher than what was expected by the market. This factor, along with SEBI's regulatory action on Total Expense Ratios (TER), may have contributed to the stock's underperformance.

Info Edge, founded in 1995, is India's dominant internet classifieds company. Info Edge owns naukri.com (No.1 online jobs website), 99acres.com (Real estate listings website), Jeevensathi.com (matrimonial website), Shiksha (leading educational information website), Zomato (~12% equity stake, leading food delivery aggregator and quick-commerce player), and Policybazaar (~12% stake, largest online insurance aggregator). Info Edge derives most of its value from the Naukri business which is the dominant online jobs website with ~75% traffic share and ~55-60% EBITDA margins. Info Edge has maintained its dominant market share, exhibited strong profitable growth across cycles while continuing to enhance its comprehensive ecosystem of offerings. We see the recent decoupling between Info Edge's recruitment billing and revenue growth with IT services industry revenue growth as an illustration of the company's ability to diversify its customer base beyond the traditional IT customers towards faster-growing segments. The stock has underperformed amid uncertainty around FY26 IT billing growth, given the softer demand outlook for IT services.

Investment Outlook

Geopolitical tensions, trade and tariff-related uncertainty, and a shifting global order were dominant themes through CY2025 and have carried into CY2026. Divergent monetary policy paths across major economies, alongside elevated sovereign debt levels, have further weighed on global growth. Persistent tariff uncertainty has also disrupted supply chains and clouded the outlook for cross-border trade, undermining business confidence and moderating global growth momentum.

Despite persistent headwinds from trade and tariff-related uncertainties, the Indian economy continued to demonstrate resilience, supported by strong GDP growth, historically low inflation, a stable external balance, and prudent fiscal management. The government also provided relief through personal income tax measures and GST rate reductions to support consumption, while continuing to front-load capital expenditure to sustain the investment cycle.

The government's first advance estimate pegs real GDP growth in FY2026 at 7.4% (FY2025: 6.5%), implying a growth of ~6.9% in 2HFY26E, after a strong 8% expansion in 1HFY26. Gross fixed capital formation and government consumption (both projected at ~8.1% in 2HFY26) remain key drivers. High-frequency indicators such as auto sales, energy consumption, e-way bills and credit growth have shown an uptick in November-December, reflecting the impact of synchronized policy support through GST rate cuts and the RBI's cumulative 125 bps rate reductions since February 2025.

The government's continued focus on Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes should support domestic manufacturing, while recent labour reforms are expected to ease structural bottlenecks, improve compliance and enhance productivity over the medium term.

CY2025 was marked by rising global trade tensions, with the US imposing higher tariffs across multiple trading partners, including India, where the effective tariff rate on exports rose to 50%, including a 25% penalty linked to India's energy trade with Russia. Although India remains largely a domestic-driven economy, with exports to the US accounting for only ~2% of GDP, the tariffs created near-term headwinds for India's export outlook, especially in labour-intensive segments such as textiles, gems & jewellery, and certain agricultural products.

However, following multiple rounds of negotiations, India and the US have concluded an interim trade agreement in February 2026 that is set to reduce the effective tariff rate to 18%, which is in line with other Asian economies ( ̴15-20%). The announcement is sentimentally positive for markets, as it reduces policy uncertainty and de-risks the external trade environment. A more stable tariff framework can accelerate capex decisions, strengthen FDI intent, and support private capex/credit growth as corporates gain greater visibility on export demand and pricing.

The India-US trade agreement adds to a series of trade deals signed over the past year and reinforces India's positioning within the evolving China+1 global supply-chain framework. India has already concluded trade agreements with the UK, New Zealand, and Oman, and is set to implement a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. Collectively, these initiatives are aimed at enhancing trade through tariff reductions, improved market access, and greater regulatory alignment, while also enabling diversification away from country-centric supply-chain risks.

The Union Budget for FY27 maintains a strong commitment to fiscal discipline, with the fiscal deficit budgeted at 4.3% of GDP (FY26 RE: 4.4%) and a continued glide path towards a debt-to-GDP ratio of 50% by FY31. There are no major changes to direct or indirect tax rates, reinforcing policy stability, with reforms focused on easing compliance through streamlined withholding tax procedures, automated approvals, and a trust-based litigation framework. Sectorally, the Budget provides a strong push to defence (17.6% YoY increase), roads and railways (8-10% higher outlays alongside new HSR and DFC announcements), electronics manufacturing and semiconductors, IT services through higher safe harbour thresholds and data centre incentives, and healthcare and chemicals via targeted funding to develop India as a biopharma hub and chemical parks. Overall, the Budget balances debt consolidation with growth support, reinforcing macro stability while strengthening India's long-term growth, competitiveness, and employment through sustained public capex and structural reforms.

Meanwhile in its annual January update, the IMF has revised India's real GDP growth forecast upward to 7.3% for FY26 (earlier: 6.6%), reflecting the strong growth momentum seen in 1HFY26. Growth is expected to moderate to ~6.4% over FY27-28 as some cyclical tailwinds fade. Nevertheless, India is likely to remain the fastest-growing major economy and is firmly on track to become the world's third-largest economy by FY29.

With a workforce of nearly 600 million, the need to create enough high productive jobs to benefit from the demographic dividend would remain India's key challenge in the long term. To boost productivity, the government has undertaken a large number of supply-side measures over the last decade, including (1) labour reforms, (2) reduction in corporate tax rates, (3) bankruptcy reforms, (4) strengthening financial and corporate balance sheets, and, (5) incentives for domestic manufacturing through PLI schemes, among others. These efforts have contributed to a steady rise in manufacturing gross value added, particularly in new-age sectors such as electronics. Continued policy support provides India with strong tailwinds to further scale up manufacturing in multiple sunrise industries, even against the backdrop of near-term tariff-related uncertainties. At the same time, India has also achieved a considerable degree of success in leveraging its skilled workforce to increase its services exports.

India's diversified corporate landscape and steadily improving return ratios reinforce its position as one of the most attractive emerging markets for capturing sustained equity outperformance. Also noteworthy has been the corporate deleveraging and cleaning up of banks' balance sheets with a marked decline in non-performing loans over the last decade. Near-term tariff-related headwinds notwithstanding, Indian manufacturing is poised to play an increasingly important role in global supply chains. Leading multinationals such as Apple and Samsung continue to expand their production footprint in the country, reinforcing India's emergence as a strategic hub within the global manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem. Furthermore, India's services exports - led by IT services and Global Capability Centers ("GCC") - continue to grow steadily, providing a key cushion to the external sector. Moreover, unlike some of its other large EM peers, India's economy is inherently much more consumption-oriented than investment driven, and the thrust of policymaking in recent years has been towards capacity building which is likely to ensure that economic growth is sustainable and broad-based and not propelled by a rise in leverage.

The Investment Adviser believes that India is at the cusp of realising its true economic potential with young demographics, superior corporate profitability and megatrends of digitalisation and formalisation emerging as the structural drivers of the India growth story. Additionally, the most attractive aspect of investing in India is what we see as the outsized alpha opportunity that the market presents compared to any other equity market globally, particularly as the Indian market is still relatively under-researched. Such alpha opportunities are present across the large, mid, and small cap spectrum. All these factors place India as one of the most promising economies over the medium term and make for a highly compelling investment proposition.

Backed by the well-resourced team of the Investment Adviser, Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc is well positioned to capitalise, from a bottom-up perspective, on the investment opportunities on offer within the Indian equities space.

Acorn Asset Management Ltd

Investment Manager

25 February 2026

Top Ten Holdings

Interim Management Statement

The Directors are required to provide an Interim Management Statement in accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's ("FCA") Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ("DTR"). The Directors consider that the Chairman's Statement and the Investment Manager's Report of this Half-Yearly Report provide details of the important events which have occurred during the period and their impact on the financial statements. The following statement on related party transactions and the Directors' Statement of Responsibility, the Chairman's Statement and Investment Manager's Report together constitute the Interim Management Statement of the Company for the six months ended 31 December 2025. The outlook for the Company for the remaining six months of the year ending 30 June 2026 is discussed in the Chairman's Statement and the Investment Manager's Report.

Principal and emerging risks and uncertainties

The principal and emerging risks and uncertainties to the Company are detailed on pages 13 to 15 of the Company's most recent Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2025 which can be found on the Company's website at https://www.ashokaindiaequity.com. The principal and emerging risks and uncertainties facing the Company remain unchanged from those disclosed in the Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2025 and the Board are of the opinion that they will continue to remain unchanged for the forthcoming six-month period. The principal and emerging risks and uncertainties facing the Company are as follows:

(i)   economic, market and geopolitical risks;

(ii)  sectoral diversification;

(iii)  operational risks;

(iv) regulatory risks;

(v)  financial risks; and

(vi) ESG and Climate Change risks.

Related party transactions

Details of the amounts paid to the Company's Investment Manager and the Directors during the period are detailed in the notes to the Half-Yearly Report and unaudited condensed financial statements (the "Financial Statements").

Going concern

The Half-Yearly Report has been prepared on a going concern basis. The Board considers this the appropriate basis as they have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least the following twelve-month period from the date of this report. In reaching this conclusion, the Directors have considered the liquidity of the Company's portfolio of investments as well as its cash position, income and expense flows. As at 31 December 2025, the Company held £428.8 million (30 June 2025: £450.6 million) in quoted investments and had cash of £11.3 million (30 June 2025: £27.4 million).

Directors' Statement of Responsibility for the Half-Yearly Report

The Directors confirm to the best of their knowledge that:

•     these condensed set of financial statements contained within the Half-Yearly Financial Report has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting; and

•     the Interim Management Report includes a fair review of the information as required by DTR 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R.

The Half Yearly Report has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's Auditor.

Signed on behalf of the Board by

Andrew Watkins

Chairman

25 February 2026

Condensed Unaudited Statement of Comprehensive Income

There is no other comprehensive income and therefore the 'Profit for the period' is the total comprehensive income for the six months ended 31 December 2025.

The supplementary revenue and capital columns, including the earnings per Ordinary Shares, are prepared under guidance from the Association of Investment Companies.

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

Condensed Unaudited Statement of Financial Position

Approved by the Board of Directors on 25 February 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

Andrew Watkins

Chairman

Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 11356069.

Condensed Unaudited Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 31 December 2025 (unaudited)

For the six months ended 31 December 2024 (unaudited)

The Company's distributable reserves consist of the special distributable reserve, revenue reserve and capital reserve attributable to realised profit.

Condensed Unaudited Statement of Cash Flows

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Reporting entity

Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc is a closed-ended investment company, registered in England and Wales on 11 May 2018. The Company's registered office is 4th Floor 46-48 James Street, London, England, W1U 1EZ. Business operations commenced on 6 July 2018 when the Company's Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange ("LSE"). The financial statements of the Company are presented for the six months from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2025.

The Company primarily invests in securities listed on any stock exchange in India and can invest in the securities of companies with a significant presence in India that are listed on stock exchanges outside India.

2. Basis of preparation

Statement of compliance

These Condensed Unaudited Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard ("IAS") 34 as required by DTR 4.2.4R, the Listing Rules of the LSE and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. They do not include all the information and disclosures required in Annual Financial Statements and should be read in conjunction with the Company's last Annual Audited Financial Statements for the period ended 30 June 2025.

The accounting policies applied in these Financial Statements are consistent with those applied in the last Annual Audited Financial Statements for the period ended 30 June 2025, which were prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards. Having reassessed the principal risks, the Directors considered it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing these Financial Statements.

Going concern

The Directors have concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the Company will have adequate liquidity and cash balances to meet its liabilities as they fall due and continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and continue as a going concern for at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements. As such the Directors have adopted the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. For further details of the Directors' consideration of going concern, is detailed in the Interim Management Statement.

Significant judgements and estimates

There have been no changes to the significant accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions from those applied in the Company's Audited Annual Financial Statements for the period ended 30 June 2025.

The Indian capital gains tax provision represents an estimate of the amount of tax payable by the Company. Tax amounts payable may differ from this provision depending on when the Company disposes of investments. The current provision for Indian capital gains tax is calculated based on the long-term or short-term nature of the investments and the applicable tax rate at the year end. Currently, the short-term tax rate is 20% and the long-term tax rate is 12.5%. The estimated tax charge is subject to regular review including a consideration of the likely period of ownership, tax rates and market valuation movements.

As disclosed in the statement of financial position, the Company made a capital gains tax provision as at 31 December 2025 of £14,583,000 (30 June 2025: £18,094,000) in respect of unrealised gains on investments held.

Adoption of new IFRS standards

A number of new standards, amendments to standards and interpretations are effective for the annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. None of these have a material impact on the measurement of the amounts recognised in the financial statements of the Company.

3. Investment held at fair value through profit or loss

(a) Investments held at fair value through profit or loss

(b) Movements in valuation

Transaction costs on investment purchases for the six months ended 31 December 2025 amounted to £140,000 (30 June 2025: £501,000) and on investment sales for the six months ended 31 December 2025 amounted to £113,000 (30 June 2025: £384,000). As at 31 December 2025 £29.6 million (30 June 2025: £32.7 million) of investments were subject to lock in periods.

(c) Gains/(losses) on investments

Under IFRS 13 'Fair Value Measurement', an entity is required to classify investments using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs used in making the measurement decision.

The following shows the analysis of financial assets recognised at fair value based on:

Level 1

Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the entity can access at the measurement date;

Level 2

Inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly; and

Level 3

Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.

The classification of the Company's investments held at fair value is detailed in the table below:

The movement on the Level 3 unquoted investments during the period is shown below:

As at period end, the Company had nine unquoted investments; Veeda Clinical Research Ltd 680,790 shares, Simpolo Vitrified Private Ltd 156,000 shares, Manjushree Technopack Ltd 1,497,145 shares, Fractal Analytics Limited 990,995 shares, SEDEMAC Mechatronics Limited 123,000 shares, TVS Motor Company Limited 124,176 shares, Kusumgar Limited 958,904 shares, NSE India Limited 230,392 shares and La Renon Healthcare Private Limited 239,354 shares.

Unquoted investments are valued by the Investment Manager in accordance with the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines 2022 ("IPEV") guidelines which are consistent with IFRS. The Investment Manager applies techniques consistent with the IPEV.

Financial assets and liabilities are held at fair value in the financial statements with the exception of short-term assets and liabilities where their carrying value approximates to fair value.

4. Financial risk management

At 31 December 2025, the Company's financial risk management objectives and policies are consistent with those disclosed in the Company's last Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2025.

5. Income

6. Other payables

7. Performance fees

The Investment Manager does not receive a fixed management fee in respect of its portfolio management services to the Company. The Investment Manager will become entitled to a performance fee subject to the Company delivering excess returns versus the MSCI India IMI Index (in sterling terms) in the medium term. The performance fee is measured over periods of three years (Performance Period) with this Performance Period ending on 30 June 2027. The performance fee in any Performance Period shall be capped at 12% of the time weighted average adjusted net assets during the relevant Performance Period. The Investment Manager has the optionality to receive the performance fee in cash, however, the Investment Manager has given written confirmation of their intention not to exercise this election and to receive any performance fee in Ordinary Shares.

The performance fee is calculated at a rate of 30% of the excess returns between adjusted NAV per share on the last day of the performance period and the MSCI India IMI Index (in sterling terms) over the Performance Period, adjusted for the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the Performance Period. The Performance Fee in respect of each Performance Period will be paid at the end of the three year period.

The performance fee is allocated in accordance with the AIC guidance where that part of the Performance fee directly attributable to the revenue performance of the Company (6%) is allocated to revenue and shown in the revenue column of the Statement of Comprehensive Income, and the part that is directly attributable to the capital performance of the Company's investments (94%) is allocated to capital and shown in the capital column of the Statement of Comprehensive Income.

As at 31 December 2025, there was a £14,721,000 provision for the performance fee liability to the Investment Manager for the one-and-a-half-year performance period (30 June 2025: £15,954,000 for the one year performance period).

8. Operating expenses

*     Auditor's remuneration excludes VAT.

**   Marketing and public relations fees includes fees written back from prior years.

*** Other expenses include Employers National Insurance Contribution, LSE, KID fees, Distribution fees, other license fees, bank charges and other miscellaneous fees.

9. Taxation

(a) Analysis of charge in the year:

The Company is liable to Indian capital gains tax under Section 115 AD of the Indian Income Tax Act 1961. A tax provision on Indian capital gains is calculated based on the long term (securities held more than one year) or short term (securities held less than one year) nature of the investments and the applicable tax rate at the period end. The short-term tax rates are 20% and the long term tax rates are 12.5% (31 December 2024: same).

(b) Factors affecting the tax charge for the period.

The standard UK corporation tax rate for the period is 25% (31 December 2024: 25%). The tax charge differs from the charge resulting from applying the standard rate of UK corporation tax for an investment trust company. The differences are explained below:

10. Earnings per Ordinary Share

Earnings per Ordinary Share is based on the loss for the six months of £15,044,000 (31 December 2024: profit £25,883,000) attributable to the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the six months ended 31 December 2025 of 170,151,048 (31 December 2024: 160,888,287).

11. Dividend

Dividends paid during the period

The Company's objective is to provide shareholder returns through capital growth with income being a secondary consideration. It should not be expected that the Company will pay a significant annual dividend, but the Board intends to declare such annual dividends as are necessary to maintain the Company's UK investment trust status.

12. Share capital

Ordinary Shares

On incorporation, the issued share capital of the Company was 1 Ordinary Share of £0.01.

During the six months ended 31 December 2025, 750,000 Ordinary Shares (year ended 30 June 2025: 14,849,496) were issued, with aggregate gross proceeds of £2,143,000 (30 June 2025: £42,218,000).

Since the period end, a further 375,000 Ordinary Shares have been issued, with aggregate gross proceeds of £1,023,525. As at the date of this report, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue is 169,317,811 (30 June 2025: 170,741,893).

The Company has a redemption facility through which shareholders are entitled to request the redemption of all or part of their holding of Ordinary Shares on an annual basis. At the Redemption Point of  30 September 2025, 2,549,082 Ordinary Shares were redeemed by the Company at a redemption price of 267.19 pence per share.

The Ordinary Shares have attached to them full voting, dividend and capital distribution rights. They confer rights of redemption. The Company's special distributable reserve may also be used for share repurchases, both into treasury or for cancellation.

Management shares

In addition to the above, on incorporation the Company issued 50,000 Management Shares of nominal value of £1.00 each.

The holder of the Management Shares undertook to pay or procure payment of one quarter of the nominal value of each Management share on or before the fifth anniversary of the date of issue of the Management Shares.

The Management Shares do not carry a right or attend or vote at general meetings of the Company unless no other shares are in issue at that time. The Management Shares have been treated as equity in accordance with IFRS.        

13. Special distributable reserve

As indicated in the Company's prospectus dated 19 June 2018, following admission of the Company's Ordinary Shares to trading on the LSE, the Directors applied to the Court and obtained a judgement on 4 December 2018 to cancel the amount standing to the credit of the share premium account of the Company. The amount of the share premium account cancelled and credited to a special distributable reserve was £44,275,898. This reserve may also be used to fund dividend/distribution payments including the Company's annual redemption facility.

14. Net asset value ("NAV") per Ordinary Share

Net assets per ordinary share as at 31 December 2025 of 269.6p (30 June 2025: 278.9p) is calculated based on £455,520,000 (30 June 2025: £476,155,000) of net assets of the Company attributable to the 168,942,811 (30 June 2025: 170,741,893) Ordinary Shares in issue as at 31 December 2025.

15. Related party transactions

The amount accrued in respect of the Performance fees due to the Investment Manager for the current Performance period is disclosed in Note 7.

The Investment Advisor provides Investment Advisory services to the Investment Manager and no fees are paid to them from the Company.

From 1 July 2025 Directors fees are payable at an annual rate of £48,000 to the Chairman, £40,000 to the Chair of the Audit Committee, and £32,000 to the other Directors.

The Directors had the following shareholdings in the Company, all of which are beneficially owned.

16. Subsequent events

There have been no significant events since the period end which would require revision of the figures or disclosure in the Financial Statements.

17. STATUS OF THIS REPORT

The information contained in this Half-Yearly Report does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the purposes of section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. They are unaudited. The Half-Yearly Report will be made available to the public at the Company's registered office.

The information for the year ended 30 June 2025 has been extracted from the last published audited financial statements, unless otherwise stated. The audited financial statements have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. Ernst & Young LLP reported on those accounts and their report was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain a statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

The Half-Yearly Report was approved by the Board on 25 February 2026.