The government on Wednesday allowed the companies to hold extraordinary general meetings through video conferencing or other audio-visual means and electronic voting through emails amid the current lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic. The listed companies with more than 1,000 shareholders could now provide electronic voting facilities to conduct extraordinary general meetings (EGMs), the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) said in a release.

"The Companies Act, 2013 allows ordinary and special resolutions to be passed through postal ballot/e-voting route without holding a physical general meeting. However, in present lockdown/social distancing conditions due to COVID-19, postal ballot facility cannot be utilised by the companies," it added.

A highly simplified mechanism for voting through registered emails has been put in place for easy compliance for other companies, MCA also said. "Further, all resolutions passed through this framework will be required to be filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) within 60 days, so that such resolutions may be viewed publicly," the MCA also said. India is under a 21-day lockdown currently to fight against the coronavirus spread.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on March 19 had allowed listed companies to defer the disclosure of Q4 and annual earnings by 45 days to June 30. The decision by the market regulator came amid the novel coronavirus which has led to shutdown of business establishments globally.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in India stands at 5,274 on Wednesday. The number of active cases is 4,714 in India, according to the data on the Ministry of Health website. The total number of coronavirus deaths is 149. Total cured or discharged are 410 and one migrated, the data also showed.