Section 178 The Companies Act, 2013

Section 178 The Companies Act, 2013

Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Stakeholders Relationship Committee

(1) The Board of Directors of 4[every listed public company] and such other class or classes of companies, as may be prescribed shall constitute the Nomination and Remuneration Committee consisting of three or more non-executive Directors out of which not less than one-half shall be independent directors:

Provided that the chairperson of the company (whether executive or non-executive) may be appointed as a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee but shall not chair such Committee.

2[(2) The Nomination and Remuneration Committee shall identify persons who are qualified to become Directors and who may be appointed in senior management in accordance with the criteria laid down, recommend to the Board their appointment and removal and 5[shall specify the manner for effective evaluation of performance of Board, its committees and individual Directors to be carried out either by the Board, by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee or by an independent external agency and review its implementation and compliance].

(3) The Nomination and Remuneration Committee shall formulate the criteria for determining qualifications, positive attributes and independence of a director and recommend to the Board a policy, relating to the remuneration for the Directors, key managerial personnel and other employees.

(4) The Nomination and Remuneration Committee shall, while formulating the policy under sub-section (3) ensure that—

(a) the level and composition of remuneration is reasonable and sufficient to attract, retain and motivate Directors of the quality required to run the company successfully;

(b) relationship of remuneration to performance is clear and meets appropriate performance benchmarks; and

(c) remuneration to Directors, key managerial personnel and senior management involves a balance between fixed and incentive pay reflecting short and long-term performance objectives appropriate to the working of the company and its goals:

6[Provided that such policy shall be placed on the website of the company, if any, and the salient features of the policy and changes therein, if any, along with the web address of the policy, if any, shall be disclosed in the Board’s report.]

(5) The Board of Directors of a company which consists of more than one thousand shareholders, debenture-holders, deposit-holders and any other security holders at any time during a financial year shall constitute a Stakeholders Relationship Committee consisting of a chairperson who shall be a non-executive director and such other members as may be decided by the Board.

(6) The Stakeholders Relationship Committee shall consider and resolve the grievances of security holders of the company.

(7) The chairperson of each of the committees constituted under this section or, in his absence, any other member of the committee authorised by him in this behalf shall attend the general meetings of the company.

(8) In case of any contravention of the provisions of section 177 and this section, the company shall be 8[liable to a penalty of five lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a penalty of one lakh rupees.]

Provided that 7[inability to resolve or consider any grievance] by the Stakeholders Relationship Committee in good faith shall not constitute a contravention of this section.

Explanation.—The expression “senior management’’ means personnel of the company who are members of its core management team excluding Board of Directors comprising all members of management one level below the executive Directors, including the functional heads.]

Exceptions/ Modifications/ Adaptations

1. In case of section 8 company – section 178 shall not apply – Notification dated 5th june, 2015.

2. In case of Government company- Sub-sections (2), (3) and (4) of section 178, shall not apply except with regard to appointment of ‘senior management’ and other employees. – Notification dated 5th june, 2015.

3. In case of Specified IFSC Public Company – section 178 shall not apply. – Notification Dated 4th January, 2017.

Amendment

4. Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act,2017:- Amendment Effective from 7th May 2018

In section 178 in sub-section (1) :-

for the words “every listed company”

The following words shall be substituted, namely :-

“ every listed public company”.

5. Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act,2017 :- Amendment Effective from 7th May 2018

In section 178 in sub-section (2):-

for the words “shall carry out evaluation of every director’s performance”

The following words shall be substituted, namely :-

“every listed public company”.

5. Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act,2017 :- Amendment Effective from 7th May 2018

In section 178 in sub-section (2):-

for the words “shall carry out evaluation of every director’s performance”

The following words shall be substituted, namely :-

“shall specify the manner for effective evaluation of performance of Board, its committees and individual Directors to be carried out either by the Board, by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee or by an independent external agency and review its implementation and compliance”

6. Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act,2017 :- Amendment Effective from 7th May 2018

In section 178 in sub-section (4), in clause (c) :-

for the words “Provided that such policy shall be disclosed in the Board’s report.”

The following Clause shall be substituted, namely :-

“Provided that such policy shall be placed on the website of the company, if any, and the salient features of the policy and changes therein, if any, along with the web address of the policy, if any, shall be disclosed in the Board’s report.”

7.Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act,2017 :- Amendment Effective from 7th May 2018

In section 178 in sub-section (8) :-

for the words “non-consideration of resolution of any grievance”

The following words shall be substituted, namely :-

“inability to resolve or consider any grievance”

8.Substituted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020. Notification dated 28th September, 2020 Amendment Effective from 21st December 2020

in sub-section (8), for the words:-

“punishable with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to five lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than twenty-five thousand rupees but which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both:”

The Following shall be substituted:-

“liable to a penalty of five lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a penalty of one lakh rupees”