More women make it to listed company boards, but slowly, shows data

livemint.com:

New Delhi: The number of women on the boards of listed companies in the country has seen a steady but incremental increase, shows official data. At the end of FY23, 4,741 women directors were on the board of 3,232 listed companies in the country, data from the ministry of corporate affairs showed. At the end of FY19, listed companies had 3,941 women directors, which went up to 4,054 by the end of FY20 and then to 4,187 by the end of FY21.

By the end of FY22, 4,450 women could make it to the boards of listed companies, showed the data. Official data also showed that there are 35 listed companies with no woman director on their boards. However, there are some companies that have made progress in women's representation on board--there are 33 listed companies having majority of women on their boards.

Also, there are 618 listed companies in which women account for 30% of directorships. The numbers show the gender gap at workplace. Achieving gender equality is a sustainable development goal that India has to realise by 2030.

According to data available from federal policy think tank NITI Aayog as of 2022, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tail Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are the states which are ranked as 'performers' in ensuring gender equality, with scores ranging from 50-64, but none of the states have reached the tag of 'front-runners' which requires a score of 65 or above based on certain parameters. The corporate affairs ministry has mandated at least one woman director on the board of certain classes companies while the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have mandated the same for listed companies. Roughly a third of professionals who secure director identification numbers (DINs) in a month are women.