Q.What is an Extraordinary General Meeting? How is it called under the Companies Act, 2013?

Business important enough to need shareholder approval sometimes cannot wait for the next Annual General Meeting; the law provides for a separate meeting to handle exactly such situations. …

An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), governed by Section 100 of the Companies Act, 2013, is simply defined as any general meeting of a company's members that is not its Annual General Meeting. It is called whenever a matter needs shareholder approval urgently enough that waiting for the next AGM would not be practical — for example, an urgent alteration of the Articles, an unscheduled rights issue, or the removal of a director.

How it is called:

1. By the Board of Directors — the Board may, whenever it thinks fit, on its own motion pass a resolution to convene an EGM.
2. On requisition by members — members holding, on the date of the requisition, not less than one-tenth of the paid-up share capital of the company carrying voting rights (or, for a company without share capital, not less than one-tenth of the total voting power) may deposit a written requisition with the company, signed by them and stating the matters to be considered. …

A common slip is to say an EGM can be requisitioned by 'any group of members' without stating the actual one-tenth voting-power threshold, or to forget the 21-day/th …