Gender Diversity | Women scarce in India Inc boardrooms

Representation of women on company boards has been abysmally low, with some companies even flouting the SEBI regulations.

A DH research showed that out of 541 directors on the boards of India’s top 50 companies, that make up Nifty50, just 96 (17.7%) are women.

Of these 50 companies, two public sector undertakings (PSUs) — NTPC and BPCL — don’t have a woman director on their board, a violation of SEBI regulations. Private sector companies on Nifty50 have appointed at least one woman director on their boards.

Also, under Section 17 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, it is mandatory for listed companies to have at least one woman director on their boards.

“The composition of board of directors of the listed entity shall be as follows... board of directors shall have an optimum combination of executive and non-executive directors with at least one woman director and not less than 50% of the board of directors shall comprise non-executive directors,” Section 17(1)(A) of SEBI (LODR) Regulation says.

While BPCL didn’t comment despite repeated attempts to reach out to them, NTPC put the onus of appointing women directors on the government.

“The power to appoint or remove the directors vests with the President of India,” NTPC said in an e-mail response to DH.

“Hence, the Administrative Ministry of NTPC i.e. Ministry of Power, has already been requested to appoint a woman independent director on the Board of NTPC so as to comply with SEBI regulations,” it added.

Experts point to a general trend of fewer women at the top of PSUs as well, and numbers prove that: of the 50 companies on Nifty, nine are PSUs. These nine companies have just 13.9% women on the boards, compared with 18.4% in 41 private companies on Nifty.

“For many years now, some PSUs have been non-compliant with SEBI LODR regulations. They need to be proactive in inducting women directors and show the way for private sector boards,” said Shriram Subramanian, managing director, InGovern — a proxy advisory firm.

Of the 50 companies on Nifty, while two have no women representatives on the board, 13 have a bare minimum of one director — just to comply with SEBI regulations.

Unlike in India, the laws in most European countries make it a must for companies to have at least 30% women directors on the board.