September 30 to witness 203 Annual General Meetings: Study

As many as 203 NSE-listed companies will hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) on the last day of this month to consider resolutions pertaining to changes in board, appointment of auditor and financial results among others, says a report.

In the entire month of September, 909 AGMs are scheduled to be held to consider 6,001 resolutions, while 203 such meetings would take place on September 30 alone, according to a report by Prime Database.

"This continues to be a disturbing phenomenon as studies have shown that a large majority of companies which have late AGMs are typically poor performers," said Pranav Haldea, Managing Director at Prime Database.

Only 77 AGMs were held in first half of this year and the momentum picked up since July. As many as 198 shareholder meetings were held in July, followed by 333 in August and 909 in September.

Apart from AGMs, shareholders of firms also meet for court-convened meetings, postal ballots and extraordinary general meetings (EGMs).

Firms get six months time period from the close of a financial year to get shareholders' approval for audited accounts. Most of the companies consider financial year ending March 31 for their operations then September 30 becomes deadline for companies for the compliance.

A total of 11,252 resolutions have been proposed to be passed in AGMs, EGMs, postal ballots and court convened meetings of 1,534 NSE-listed companies since January 2016, down from 12,432 resolutions in the same period last year.

Significantly, most number (3,837) of resolutions relate to 'board changes'. This is followed by resolutions (2,363) relating to the auditors, which also involves changes in auditors consequent to the requirement of rotation of auditors.

The number of resolution relating to dividends stood at 829, while that of pertaining to raising of capital (debt and equity) was at 380.

The report is based on 2,059 AGMs, EGMs, Postal Ballots and Court Convened Meetings held/proposed to be held by 1,534 NSE listed companies between January 1, 2016 till September 13, 2016.