Three companies. Three distinct resolutions. All taken down in just one week!
The last week of September 2026 brought an unusual set of shareholder votes.
🔹 Sigachi Industries: A 10% dividend (Re 0.10 per share) was rejected, with 99.66% of votes cast against. The promoter group (36.69%) voted 100% against, while public institutions voted 100% in favour.
This came two weeks after the same promoter group voted against both resolutions at the company’s EGM: an increase in authorised capital and a ₹290.40 crore preferential issue of warrants.
Shareholders voting down a dividend is rare. Earlier instances include Camson Bio Technologies (2014), DS Kulkarni Developers (2016), Jain Irrigation Systems (2019), and Rajesh Exports (2023).
🔹 Unicommerce eSolutions: A special resolution for up to 1% profit-related commission to Non-Executive Directors received 73.87% support—short of the 75% required. Promoters voted fully in favour, but public institutions (64.28% against) and non-institutional shareholders (66.27% against) opposed it.
🔹 Gujarat Themis Biosyn: A resolution to avail loans and guarantees from the promoter group was defeated, with 59.86% voting against. Since it was a material related party transaction, promoter votes were excluded; public institutions voted 81.57% against.
Some practical takeaways for compliance teams:
1️⃣ Read the Scrutinizer’s report before drafting the covering letter. In one of these cases, the covering letter said all resolutions were approved, while the Scrutinizer’s report recorded one as not passed.
2️⃣ Reconcile the percentages in the Reg. 44 format with the Scrutinizer’s report. Small mismatches end up on the exchange record permanently.
3️⃣ A defeated dividend has consequences beyond the vote. If a record date has been fixed, the company must inform the exchanges that it is cancelled.
4️⃣ Promoter backing doesn’t guarantee a result. On RPTs, interested promoters cannot vote. On special resolutions, public shareholders can block the 75% threshold.
I’ve put together a summary sheet with voting patterns for each resolution, along with links to the company filings on NSE. It’s attached below.
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