Covid 19 - Impact on Corporate Functioning
21 March 2020
Relaxation in requirements related to Corporate functioning due to CoVID-19 virus pandemic
- Exemption from conducting Board Meeting through physical presence of Directors
In order to overcome the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19), the Government, as a pre-cautionary step, has in-principle decided to relax the requirement of holding Board meetings with physical presence of directors under section 173 (2) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 4 of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014 for approval of the annual financial statements, Board’s report, etc.
Such meetings may till 30th June, 2020 be held through video conferencing or other audio visual means by duly ensuring compliance of Rule 3 of the said Rules.
In view of the above, Companies are advised to plan their Board Meetings accordingly.
- Extension of timeline for filings with stock exchange under SEBI Listing Regulations
|
S.No. |
Regulation and associated filing |
Filing |
Relaxation w.r.t. the quarter / financial year ending March 31, 2020 |
|||
|
Frequency |
Due within |
Due date |
Extended date |
Period of relaxation |
||
|
1. |
Regulation 7(3) relating to compliance certificate on share transfer facility |
Half yearly |
One month of the end of each half of the financial year |
April 30, 2020 |
May 31, 2020 |
1 month |
|
2. |
Regulation 13(3) relating to Statement of Investor complaints |
Quarterly |
21 days from the end of each quarter |
April 21, 2020 |
May 15, 2020 |
3 weeks (approx.) |
|
3. |
Regulation 24A read with circular No CIR/CFD/CMD1/27/201 9 dated February 8, 2019 relating to Secretarial Compliance Report |
Yearly |
60 days from the end of the financial year |
May 30, 2020 |
June 30, 2020 |
1 month |
|
4. |
Regulation 27(2) relating to Corporate Governance report |
Quarterly |
15 days from the end of the quarter |
April 15, 2020 |
May 15, 2020 |
1 month |
|
5. |
Regulation 31 relating to Shareholding Pattern |
Quarterly |
21 days from the end of the quarter |
April 21, 2020 |
May 15, 2020 |
3 weeks (approx.) |
|
6. |
Regulation 33 relating to Financial Results |
Quarterly / Annual |
45 days from the end of the quarter for quarterly results
60 days from the end of Financial Year for Annual Financial Results |
May 15, 2020
May 30, 2020 |
June 30, 2020
June 30, 2020 |
45 days
1 month |
- Relaxation of time gap between two board/ audit committee meetings under SEBI Listing Regulations
|
Regulatory provision |
Relaxation |
|
Regulation 17(2): The board of directors shall meet at least four times a year, with a maximum time gap of one hundred and twenty days between any two meetings
|
The board of directors and Audit Committee of the listed entity are exempted from observing the maximum stipulated time gap between two meetings for the meetings held or proposed to be held between the period December 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
However the board of directors / Audit Committee shall ensure that they meet atleast four times a year, as stipulated under regulations 17(2) and 18(2)(a) of the LODR
|
|
Regulation 18(2)(a): The audit committee shall meet at least four times in a year and not more than one hundred and twenty days shall elapse between two meetings |
- Closure of filing counters of all NCLT benches
To avoid community transmission of novel CoVID-19, filing counters of all the NCLT benches shall remain closed till March 27, 2020. It has been further directed that in case of limitation issue, matters may be filed online at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Amaravati and Jaipur and hard copy may be handed over when the filing counters are opened. Till such time, parties have been directed not to make any filing except matters likely to hit by limitation.
With regard to other benches, an application (without annexure) as to the limitation issue may be filed through email of respective registrar of the Bench.
