The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) issued a circular, on Tuesday easing the deadline for holding Annual General Meeting (AGM) for certain sections of the companies due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Under the Companies Act, 2013, companies have to hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) within nine months from the end of their financial year.
In this regard, the government received several representations from stakeholders with regard to difficulty in holding Annual General Meetings (AGM) for companies whose financial year ended on December 31, 2019, due to COVID-19 related social distancing norms and consequential restrictions.
The government issued a circular addressing all the Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and Stakeholders and said, “if the companies whose financial year (other than first financial year) has ended on 31st December 2019, hold their AGM for such financial year within a period of nine months from the closure of the financial year (i.e. by 30th September, 2020), the same shall not be viewed as a violation. The references to the due date of AGM or the date by which the AGM should have been held under the Act or the rules made thereunder into construed accordingly.”
“The relaxed deadline would be applicable only for companies whose financial year ended in December 2019,” the corporate affairs ministry said on Tuesday, amid the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
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