Q.What do you mean by quorum? State the quorum requirements for a general meeting of a public company under the Companies Act, 2013.

A meeting cannot validly transact business unless a legally fixed minimum number of members are actually present; this minimum is called the quorum.

Quorum is the minimum number of members who must be personally present at a meeting before it can lawfully commence and transact any business; a resolution passed without the required quorum being present is not valid, however many proxy votes exist on paper.

Section 103 of the Companies Act, 2013 fixes the quorum for a general meeting as follows:

Only members who are personally present count towards this quorum — a member represented only by a proxy does not, unless the company's Articles of Association state otherwise. If the Articles fix a higher quorum than the Act, the higher figure governs. …

A very common mistake is applying the private-company figure (2) to a public company, or assuming the public-company quorum is always a flat number (like 5) regardless of the compa …