Indian board rooms have seen an increase in women representation over the last decade, a report on diversity in the board room by EY revealed. According to this report, the participation of women in board rooms has increased from 6 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in 2022. However, the report also stated that this progress is “essentially a result of the Indian corporate law mandate”.
According to the report, nearly 95 per cent of the NIFTY 500 companies now have a woman on the board of directors, but less than five per cent of companies have female chairpersons.
At 34 per cent, the technology (IT and ITeS) industry has one of the highest female representations. According to the EY report, the average number of women on Technology sector boards has increased from 1.19 in 2017 to 1.75 in 2022.
The Life Sciences industry is also leading the corporate world in bringing this change. “A sizable number of women promoters is one of the key factors contributing to the high gender diversity on Lifesciences boards, both in executive and non-executive positions,” the report states.
After life sciences, media and entertainment industry has also seen good progress (14 per cent in 2017 to 23 per cent in 2022), but the increase is not uniform across companies. “The increase is mainly due to a few organisations exceeding the mandated quota and hiring more women directors,” the report explains. The Consumer Products and Retail sector is the next leading section which is bringing a change in diversity in board rooms.
The energy and utilities is one sector where the progress has been stagnant 15 per cent in 2017 and 2022. As per the EY report, women’s participation in the Indian energy sector is a mere 8 per cent, with only 600 women in managerial and executive roles.
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