Women hold only 9.5% of all board seats at 200 leading Indian companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Along with Japan and Portugal, Asia’s third largest economy has one of the lowest percentage share of women directors in the world, according to a report by Catalyst, a not-for-profit that promotes gender equality in business. The report only analysed the composition of BSE 200 companies, and not all listed Indian firms.
In Norway, which has the best boardroom gender ratio, nearly one in three corporate director is a woman.
In 2013, India enacted a new Companies Act, replacing the original 1956 law. It mandated that all companies listed on stock exchanges must have at least one woman on its board of directors. Firms had till October last year to comply with the new norms.