Extension for holding AGM for FY 2020

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has given directions to extend the due date for holding Annual General Meetings for the financial year ending on March 31, 2020, taking into account the difficulties faced due to Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country.

AGM Extension

Pursuant to the provisions under section 96 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”), every company is required to hold the annual general meeting (“AGM”) for the financial year ending on March 31, 2020 (‘FY 2020’) on or before September 30, 2020, i.e. within a period of six months, from the date of closing of the, said financial year.

However, upon receipt of various representations from the companies, Industry bodies and professional institutions regarding the difficulty faced in holding their AGM for the financial year ended on March 31, 2020, due to difficulties faced in view of Covid-19 Pandemic, the MCA directed all concerned Registrars of Companies (‘RoCs’) to issue orders for extension of this deadline by 3 months (up to December 31, 2020), without the requirement of filing of formal applications from individual companies. The MCA directions cover the relief of extension of time to the companies who have already filed the applications, i.e. e-form GNL-1 to the RoC but have not been approved or rejected. Consequently, vide orders dated September 8, 2020, 25 offices of RoCs across India have extended this deadline for companies in their respective jurisdictions.

The extension is not applicable to the first AGM of a newly incorporated company as the Act already provides such new companies a period of 9 months from the end of the financial year to hold their first AGM.