Gender diversity on boards: Private firms pip public peers, shows data

MCA's January 2026 bulletin shows women form 29% of directors in private firms versus 20% in public companies, even as overall registrations and LLP formations continue to rise

Private companies have fared better than their public counterparts on gender diversity on their boards, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ latest monthly information bulletin data for January 2026 showed. While only 20 per cent of directors in public companies were women, the number was higher at 29 per cent in private companies, as of January 31, 2026.

 

Out of the total number of directors registered in India in January 2026, 68 per cent were male and the remaining 32 per cent were female. While the number of new registrations for director identification numbers has been going up year on year, the proportion of new men versus women directors has remained unchanged for at least the last four years.

 

Data on active directors across One Person Companies, private and public companies shows that approximately 71 per cent are male and 28 per cent are female, as of January 2026.

 

The number of new company registrations went up by 39 per cent in January 2026 to 23,280 over the corresponding month last year, according to the January 2026 monthly information bulletin. The number of Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) registrations during the quarter of November-January 2026 went up 54.5 per cent to 25,217, the data showed.