What is an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting)?

Every general meeting (i.e. meeting of members of the company) other than the statutory meeting and the annual general meeting or any adjournment thereof, is an extraordinary general meeting. Such meeting is usually called by the Board of Directors for some urgent business which cannot wait to be decided till the next AGM. Every business transacted at such a meeting is special business. An explanatory statement of the special business must also accompany the notice calling the meeting. The notice must should also give the nature and extent of the interest of the directors or manager in the special business, as also the extent of the shareholding interest in the company of every such person. In case approval of any document has to be done by the members at the meeting, the notice mus also state that the document would be available for inspection at the Registered Office of the company during the specified dates and timings.

The Articles of Association of a Company may contain provisions for convening an extraordinary general meeting. It may provide that “the board may, whenever it thinks fit, call an extraordinary general meeting” or it may provide that “if at any time there are not within India, directors capable of acting who are sufficient in number to form a quorum, any director or any two members of the company may call an extraordinary general meeting”.