The MCA has extended due date for holding Annual General Meeting for companies whose financial year ended on 31st December 2019. The said relaxation is notified vide General Circular No. 18/2020 dated 21st April 2020. Background: As per the provisions of Section 96 of the Companies Act, 2013, every company shall hold its first Annual General Meeting within a period of 9 months from the closure of first financial year and thereafter within 6 months from the closure of the financial year and not more than 15 months shall elapse between two AGM....

The MCA issued clarification vide General Circular No. 16/2020 dated April 13, 2020, for filings required under Section 124 and 125 of the Companies Act, 2013. Background: Pursuant to provisions of Section 124 of the Companies Act, 2013 if a company declares adividend but did not pay or remains unclaimed for a period of 30 days, then such unpaid or unclaimed dividend shall be transferred to Unpaid Dividend Account within 7 days from the expiry of 30 days....

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released a Press Note 3 on 17/04/2020 under FDI Policy Section to secure the Indian Companies from opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions in the current situation arising out of COVID-19. The Government has reviewed the FDI policy and revised Para 3.1.1 of the Policy related to the eligibility for foreign investors for Foreign Direct investment in India. The decision will take effect from the date of FEMA notification....

The pandemic COVID-19 has caused damages to the world economy. The Government of India has declared Coronavirus is notified as a disaster and spending CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible CSR activity. The companies have come forward to help on a large scale. Keeping this in view the Ministery of Corporate Affairs vide General Circular No. 10/2020 clarified that spending of CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible CSR activity. Such funds may be spent on various activities related to COVID-19....

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has made the entire world standstill. Businesses are facing difficulties while making decisions. Considering the difficulties in attending meetings physically, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has allowed companies to hold extraordinary general meetings (EOGM) via Video Conferencing or any other audiovisual mode and allowed e-voting or via shareholders registered email id on business resolutions. Post representation by many stakeholders regarding the difficulty, the MCA vide General Circular No....

Introduction The ICAI’s (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) Unique Document Identification Number -UDIN is a proactive measure to stop issuance of financial statements and certificates by third persons who are not chartered accountants, instead of the members of ICAI. Such certificates/documents were being issued to various authorities, Banks and other stakeholders by forgery of signatures and misrepresenting themselves before the regulators. To protect the members and to curb the malpractice, the Professional Development Committee of ICAI implemented a unique concept of UDIN - Unique Document Identification Number, by which all documents and certificates will have a unique number as the authenticity of such document/certificate....