India Relaxes Mandatory Requirement To Hold Board Meetings For 60 Days

India relaxed the mandatory requirement to hold board meetings, among other regulatory and compliance relief measures, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has offered a relaxation of 60 days to firms that have to mandatorily hold board meetings according to provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Also, the Companies Act provision that mandates newly incorporated companies to make a declaration for commencement of business within six months has now been extended to an additional six months, she said. Besides, it waived the requirement for directors of a company to be in India for a minimum of 182 days in a year.

This comes as the number of Covid-19 cases in India rose to nearly 500, including nine deaths. The spreading virus also prompted a lockdown in 30 states and travel bans, shutting down businesses temporarily in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Sitharaman, who was accompanied Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and other officers of the ministry, said the government was in the process of announcing a relief package for the economy and the announcement would be made soon.

Here are the other relief measures announced by Sitharaman:

• No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from April 1 to Sept. 30, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date.
• There shall not be any additional fee for late filing.
• The deadline to create a deposit reserve of 20 percent till April 30 has been moved to June 30.
• The deadline to invest 15 percent debentures maturing in a year in specified instruments—a mandatory move—has been moved from April 30 to June 30.