Q.Can the statutory time-limit for holding an AGM be extended? Explain.

The Companies Act, 2013 gives the Registrar of Companies a limited power to extend the deadline for holding an AGM, but this power has clear boundaries. …

Yes, but only within limits fixed by Section 96 of the Companies Act, 2013.

• The Registrar of Companies has the power, on receiving an application from the company showing special reason, to grant an extension of time for holding an AGM.
• The maximum extension that may be granted is three months.
• This extension is available only for AGMs held after the first one — the nine-month deadline for a company's first AGM cannot be extended by the Registrar under any circumstance.
• Even after an extension, the underlying rule that the gap between two consecutive AGMs must never exceed fifteen months continues to be relevant when the company plans its compliance calendar, though the extension itself is what allows the six-month post-year-end deadline to be pushed out for genuine cause (for example, delay in finalising accounts due to unavoidable circumstances). …

Students sometimes state that the extension applies to the first AGM as well, or that the Registrar can extend it by any period — both are wrong; the extens …