Covid-19: India Inc gets a month's extension to hold AGMs due to lockdown

Sebi has also granted three-month extension for yearly committee meetings and has provided temporary exemption to listed firms from publishing newspaper ads

Market regulator Sebi on Thursday granted listed companies a month's extension to hold their annual general meetings (AGM) due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

Under the existing rules, the top 100 companies have to conclude their AGMs within a period of five months from the financial year closing. As most companies have March year-ending, they have to hold their AGMs on or before August 31.

Sebi has extended this date to September 30 due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The regulator has also granted a three-month extension to carry out yearly committee meetings on remuneration, risk management and stakeholder relationships. The new deadline to conclude these meetings would be June 31 instead of March 31.

Sebi has also provided temporary exemptions to listed companies from publishing of newspaper advertisement.

“It has been brought to the notice of Sebi that some newspapers are not bringing their print versions for a limited period; some newspapers that are still printing are not accepting a ‘e-copy’ of the information to be published, which acts as a challenge in ensuring compliance with this regulation. Hence it has been decided to exempt publication of advertisements in newspapers as required under regulation 47 for all events scheduled till May 15, 2020,” the regulator said in a circular.

Last week, Sebi had announced a set of extension in areas such as filing of shareholding pattern and financial result disclosures.