More articles by

Vandana
Vandana

Gender equality

Number of women on boards of Indian firms goes up, but still lower than global average

gender-equality-reuters Representational image | Reuters

 Gender diversity on boards in companies in India has improved in the past two years, according to a Deloitte survey of 132 companies. The number of women on boards in India increased by 4.7 per cent—from 7.7 per cent in 2014 to 12.4 per cent in 2016. This is still lower than global average that stands at roughly 15 per cent. However, only 3.2 per cent of chair positions are held by women.

The Companies Act, 2013, for the first time, made it mandatory for all listed companies and other large public limited companies to appoint at least one woman director to their boards.

The act also states that any intermittent vacancy of a women director should be filled by another woman director within three months or by the company’s next board meeting, whichever is later. Companies were given time until 31 March 2015 to comply with this legislative provision.

The industries with highest percentage of women directors are TMT (technology, media, telecom)—16 per cent—followed by consumer businesses at 15 per cent, life sciences and healthcare at 15 per cent, manufacturing at 11 per cent and energy resources at 10 per cent.

"In recent years, insights from various studies indicate an encouraging correlation between women in leadership positions and corporate performance. Gender balanced boards are better at managing risks and offer varied perspectives to problem solving. Such boards increase their ability to question the norm and inspire innovation. Although it is easier said than done, I think it is time we stop proving the cause and effect and address gender diversity with an open mind", said Abhay Gupta, partner, Deloitte India.

According to the report, although there are no quotas for women on board in the UK and Australia, these countries have an impressive percentage of board seats held by women with 20.3 per cent and 20.4 per cent respectively. On the other hand, India, despite having a quota of at least one woman director on the boards of the listed companies and other large public limited companies, has only 12.4 per cent of board seats held by women which is significantly lower than the global average.

Europe has the highest percentage of board seats held by women as compared to other regions of the world with 22.6 per cent average as compared to the global average of 15 per cent.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Gender equality

Related Reading