Top companies in India do not have enough people with disabilities

Top Indian companies have just three persons with disability out of 1,000 employees who are on their rolls, the Economic Times reported, quoting the latest workforce data by Nifty 50. Out of the fifty top indian companies, only five have above one per cent PwD employees.

Out of these five, four are public sector companies that are required by law to reserve four per cent of all jobs for disabled people. However, even these companies fall well short of the required target.

Lack of proper accessibility for the disabled in the office spaces and a limited pool of skilled PwD candidates are among the major reasons given by experts for the poor representation of this group in the workforce.

However, Nipun Malhotra, founder of the Nipman Foundation, termed the lack of talent pool a "chicken and egg situation."

"Because companies are not hiring enough people with disabilities, you will not get people with disabilities with relevant experience. So, we really have to start somewhere," he told the publication.

Saptarishi Roy, former director, HR at NTPC told the publication that there were also legacy issues hampering the public sector companies from meeting their lawful target when it comes to hiring PwDs. He argues that since this group did not get proper representation in jobs for years, the process of giving them their due will take time.

He also pointed out that the nature of job is also a hindrance at times.

"The nature of the job is also sometimes a deterrent. For instance, a bank which has many more desk jobs, will offer more opportunities for PwDs than a power company, where it is more on-ground project-based work," he told the publication.

Malhotra, who was quoted above, also feels that the limited participation of PwDs in workforces is due to social obstacles as well. She argues that sensitisation programmes are needed in order to change the attitude of the corporate sector.

As per the report, the State Bank of India leads the list of employing disabled people with 2.20 percent of their total employees coming from this group. Bharat Petroleum, ONGC and Power Grid Corporation are next in the list.

According to the report, Titan has the highest share of disabled people on its rolls at 1 per cent when it comes to the private sector, while ITC, with around half per cent remains a distant second.