One of major changes brought in by the companies act 2013 is a requirement for every company to have atleast one resident director, that is one of the director need to stay in India for atleast 182 days.    Government has received requests from stakeholders for clarification with regard to applicability of these provisions in the current calendar/financial year, since the law came into affect only from April 1st 2014.

The matter has been examined. It is clarified that the ‘residency requirement’ would be reckoned from the date of commencement of section 149 of the Act i.e. 1st April, 2014. The first ‘previous calendar year’ for compliance with these provisions would, therefore, be Calendar Year 2014. The period to be taken into account for compliance with these provisions will be the remaining period of calendar year 2014 (i.e. 1st April to 31st December). Therefore, on a proportionate basis, the number of days for which the director(s) would need to be resident in India, during Calendar Year 2014, shall exceed 136 days. Regarding newly incorporated companies it is clarified that companies incorporated between 1-4-2014 to 30-9-2014 should have a resident director either at the incorporation stage itself or within six months of their incorporation. Companies incorporated after 30-9-2014 need to have the resident director from the date of incorporation itself. Thus, to conclude,  Is staying 137 days in India enough to satisfy requirement of companies act 2013 for a director ? The answer to this question is yes, number of days a director of the company need to stay in India to satisfy requirement of companies act 2013 . Please feel free to visit our company registration page here OR our company law secretarial page here.