More women on boards, but top management tally lags global average

The study found that women in top management positions increased from nearly 14 per cent to about 22 per cent during the same period

The share of women in boards of companies went up from just over 5 per cent in FY14 to nearly 16 per cent in FY23, according to a study by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The study found that women in top management positions increased from nearly 14 per cent to about 22 per cent in the same period. However, India still lags in the share of women in middle and senior management roles at only 20 per cent, compared to nearly 33 per cent globally, as of 2019. Almost 60 per cent of the firms that were part of the study did not have any women in top management teams as of March 2023. The deadline for meeting the woman director mandate was set for April 1, 2015.

Five of the top ten NSE-listed firms by market capitalisation (mcap) had no women in their top management teams as of March 2023. More than half of the NSE-listed companies in the sample did not have even one woman as part of their top management, and about 10 per cent of the firms had just one woman. Ratna Sahay, lead author of the study said: “Having at least one woman on board is associated with higher economic performance and lower financial risk, and this effect is significant for large and medium-sized firms.”