DIC India became the first company from Calcutta and only the second in the country to hold a virtual annual general meeting of the shareholders on Friday with participants joining from various parts of India and Japan and Singapore.

The AGM, which usually takes place at the Williamson & Magor Hall within the premises of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Dalhousie in Calcutta, was transmitted on the web with the aid of National Securities Depository Ltd and a proprietary digital meeting platform developed by Cisco.

While shareholders were scattered all over the country, three independent directors, including chairman Dipak Kumar Banerjee, joined from Calcutta. Two directors each joined from Singapore and Japan. The senior management, including managing director and CEO Manish Bhatia, joined from the Noida corporate office in Delhi for the 72nd AGM.

On Thursday, TCS became the first company to hold the annual jamboree of the shareholders digitally. The Telegraph had first reported the plans of TCS and DIC on May 21. Several other companies have announced to follow suit since then as a large gathering of people remains out of bounds in order to maintain the social distancing protocol amid the pandemic.

“The meeting went really well. We had a little less than 100 shareholders participating. It continued for about one-and-a-half hours, which is usually the duration of the meeting when it takes place at BCCI. Because the meeting took place digitally, we had shareholders joining from places other than Calcutta. There were a few senior citizens, who otherwise could not have stepped out of home, and spoke at the AGM,” a DIC official said.

Formerly known as Coats of India, the company is now majority owned by DIC Corporation of Japan, the world’s largest manufacturer of printing ink and allied material. DIC holds a 71.75 per cent stake in the company, which is listed on the Indian bourses.

The management fielded nearly 30 questions from the shareholders who were all eager to know the impact of the pandemic on the business in the last two months and what the future holds for the company.

While it had received around 20 questions before the meeting started, several shareholders posted queries live through a chat box provided by the Webex platform of Cisco.

The DIC management informed that the business outlook for the year would remain uncertain and that supply chain, manufacturing and overall demand have been impacted in the lockdown.