The Companies Act 2013 strictly prohibits the issuance of irredeemable preference shares. Preference shares must generally be redeemed within 20 years. However, an exception is made for companies involved in finance infrastructure projects such as telecommunications, petroleum and natural gas, and power, where the redemption period can be extended to a maximum of 30 years. In such cases, companies must redeem at least 10% of these preference shares annually, starting from the 20th year .