Through General Circular No. 36/2020 dated October 20, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has exempted directors and designated partners from complying with the minimum residency requirement of 182 days for Financial Year (“FY”) 2020-21.

On September 8, 2020, the Registrar of Companies (“ROC”) granted an automatic extension of 3 months for holding Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) for Financial Year (“FY”) 2019-20. This comes as a major relief for companies during this pandemic.

Given the COVID-19 crisis, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has been taking many initiatives to support Corporate India including initiatives pertaining to Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”).

The Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”) does not contain any provision with respect to convening general meetings through electronic mode. Earlier, by general circular 14/2020 and 17/2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) allowed EGMs through video conferencing (“VC”) or any other audio-visual means (“OAVM”) with a view to support corporate India on account of...

In view of the extension of the lockdown in India, the functioning of the courts continues to remain extremely negligible. Various courts and forums have issued renewed notifications which are highlighted below:

By a general circular 18/2020 issued on April 21, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) extended the due date for Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) from June 30, 2020 to September 30, 2020 of companies whose Financial Year (“FY”) followed the calendar year basis, i.e. ended on December 31, 2019.

By a general circular 14/2020 dated April 8, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) allowed the companies to convene Extra-ordinary General Meetings (“EGMs”) through video conferencing or any other audio-visual means without the physical presence of any shareholder.

On April 17, 2020 the Ministry of Commerce, acting through the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade issued a Press Note or PN 3 of 2020 through which it aims to curb “opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies” on account of COVID-19.

Vide its letter dated March 13, 2020, the Department of Telecommunications (“DoT”) had granted temporary exemptions from some conditions for Work From Home (“WFH”) facility under the Other Service Provider (“OSP”) registration.