Every company, other than a One Person Company is required to hold a general meeting as its annual general meeting. The company has to specify the meeting in the notice calling it the Annual General Meeting.
According to the Companies Act, 2013 every Annual General Meeting (AGM) is to be called during business hours i.e. between 9AM and 6PM on any day that is not a National Holiday. The Annual General Meeting is to be held either at the registered office of the company or at some other place within the city, town or village in which the registered office of the company is located.
However, after imposing certain conditions, the Central Government can exempt any company from this requirement.
Section 96(1) of Act states that the first AGM must be held within 9 months from the date of closing of the first Financial Year of the company. This means that a company law incorporated on January 1, 2015 with first Financial Year closed on March 31, 2016 must hold its Annual General Meeting on or before December 31, 2016.
The previous Companies Act of 1956 required the first AGM to be held within 18 months from the date of incorporation. Another change brought by the new companies law is that the AGM can now be held on all days including on Sundays and public holidays but cannot be held on National Holidays as declared by the Government.
Any annual general meeting other than the first AGM, must be held within 6 months from the date of closing of the financial year. Not more than 15 months must have elapsed between the date of two annual general meetings of a company.
The Registrar may extend the time period within which an AGM may be held by not more than 3 months for any special reason. However, this provision does not extend to first Annual General Meeting.
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