State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest public sector bank, will conduct its annual general meeting (AGM) through the video conferencing mode this year too. The virtual AGM is slated for June 22, sources close to the development said.
This will be the third year in a row that SBI would hold shareholder meetings in the virtual mode (video conferencing and other audio visual means ).
The only agenda for this year’s meeting is to discuss and adopt the balance sheet and the profit and loss account for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, besides the auditor’s report, sources added.
During the pandemic, the government had allowed companies to conduct their AGMs and other corporate compliance businesses in the virtual mode. Most of the compliance related relaxations, which began in 2020, continue to be available today, a corporate observer pointed out.
In 2020, SBI settled for the virtual mode after taking the legal opinion of the Solicitor-General (after Maharashtra objected to a physical meeting).
Till a few years ago, SBI was reluctant to even allow e-voting by shareholders. It took the position that it was not bound by the company law as it had been set up under an Act of Parliament that did not specifically provide for conduct of business virtually.