LESS WOMAN STRENGTH IN INDIA INC

Women account for only 4 per cent of the total number of independent directors on boards of 1,470 public-listed companies, says a report.
According to the report, Indian companies need to induct 966 women on their boards by October 1, 2014 to comply with new company law that mandates every listed firm with a minimum paid up share capital of Rs 1 billion to have atleast one woman at the board level.
Women were under-represented at the board level in global scenario as well, the report 'Women on Boards-Companies Act 2013', said. "Amongst the 1,470 public listed companies, the number of women directors on board were 350, representing only 4 per cent of the total number of Independent Directors on Board. India Inc. will need to institute 966 women to company boards by 1st October 2014," says the report by Biz Divas, a national network of professional women, and law firm Khaitan and Co. Under the new rules as mandated under the Companies law and Sebi norms, every listed firm with a minimum paid up share capital of Rs 1 billion or an annual turnover of at least Rs 3 billion should have at least one woman director on its board. This will come into force from October 1, 2014. According to the report, India is the first country among the developing nations that has chosen to make representations of women on company boards mandatory. The Indian corporate boardroom displays a difference in the percentage of women directors in different sectors. "This may be an impact of the maturity of the industry as well as outsourcing of talent. The Iron & steel industry in India boasts the maximum representation of 10.98 per cent amongst the BSE Sensex companies," the report stated. However, in the Fortune 500 companies in India there is only one woman representative on the boards, the report said. Observing that one-fifth of the World's 200 largest companies have no women directors, the report said in the global scenario as well, women were under-represented at the board level. "Some key developed countries like France, Italy and Norway have made Women on Board compulsory for the larger companies, resulting in a strong gender mix of boards," it said.

However, while these cases strongly suggest the need for a push to accelerate the change, gender equality at board level has, till now, failed to trickle down to executive, the report noted. The report identifies some key global case studies of gender diversity in developed nations. Key among these are Norway which is a forerunner in by being the first developed nations to make the inclusion of women in company boards mandatory. "Norway has witnessed women representation in boards shoot up from 7 per cent in 2003 to 41 per cent in 2013. The Norway implementation was made successful by posing serious penalty for non-compliance as grave as dissolution. Other countries that have not implemented penalties have seen far less results," the report said. The largest economies - the US, China and Japan - which have no quotas for women in boardrooms, had the lowest growth of women on boards, suggesting that unless pushed, change does not occur, it said.