Despite India’s early adoption of gender quotas, the report starkly illustrates that women occupy a mere 19% of board seats in the top 200 NSE-listed companies. This pronounced gender disparity, particularly in comparison to global counterparts like the FTSE 100 where women hold 42% of board seats, signifies a substantial opportunity for improving the metrics and not sticking to regulatory norms only.

The report highlights a positive trend in the inclusion of external women directors, propelled by regulatory mandates requiring at least one independent woman director on listed boards. While women comprise 27% of independent directors, they constitute only 10% of executive directors, pointing to the need to structurally address gender diversity issues in corporations to provide more opportunities for women to rise to the Board.

Sanjay Kapoor, a consultant at Russell Reynolds Associates, said, “The ‘Deciphering the Indian Boardroom’ report serves as a strategic compass for Indian boards, outlining the roadmap for both present and future boardrooms. Good governance is an ever-evolving process, and snapshots like these allow relevant cross-country comparisons, triggering aspirations to ‘better the best’.“

The report also exemplifies the age dynamics of board members in India, highlighting a shift towards hiring younger talent. With women board members in the top 200 companies averaging 59 years compared to their male counterparts at 62, it appears that women are joining Boards at a younger age than their male counterparts. Further, while the average age of board members is 61 years, the range spreads between 26 to 94 years.

The report emphasizes the need for increased gender diversity in India’s corporate boards, with women’s leadership access being a crucial factor in achieving gender parity and aligning with global governance practices. The full report is available on the Russell Reynolds Associates website.

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DELHI: Cummins Powers Women, a landmark community initiative to advance Cummins Inc.’s long-term commitment to the empowerment of women and girls around the world, partnered with global non-profit Rise Up as it launched its third Leadership Accelerator Program to improve the lives of women, girls, and gender-nonconforming people in India. Rise Up works to advance gender equity and justice in education, health, and economic opportunity.

The program was supported by Ashwath Ram, Managing Director, Cummins Group in India; Shveta Arya, Executive Director – Power Systems Business, Cummins India, and Sponsor Cummins Powers Women; Ashish Aggarwal, Chief Administrative Officer, Cummins India, and Catherine Van Way, Head – Government Relations, Cummins Inc.

Hosted in Delhi, the week-long Leadership Accelerator Program was attended by 22 gender equity leaders from non-profit organizations across NCR, selected through a rigorous and competitive application process. The program helped them strengthen their leadership skills, share their diverse expertise, develop their advocacy strategies, and collaborate in their ongoing efforts to help women and girls become agents of social change. As the program graduates move forward with their projects to bolster gender equity in the areas of health, education, and economic opportunity, Rise Up will continue to provide support. Cummins and Rise Up aim to expand the program to other cities throughout India to maximize its impact.

Underlining the need for swift actions to promote gender equity, Shveta Arya, Executive Director – Power Systems Business, Cummins India, and Sponsor, Cummins Powers Women said, “Empowering women is key to unlocking India’s progress and prosperity. Yet, we are decades away from achieving gender equity. At Cummins Powers Women (CPW), we are focused on supporting initiatives that tackle gender disparities head-on to transform the lives of women and girls. We congratulate the new graduates of the Rise Up Leadership Accelerator Program and look forward to working with Rise Up and Rise Up Leaders as they create equal opportunities for women and accelerate progress toward gender equity. At Cummins, we recognize that a more inclusive and diverse world is a better world for everyone.”

Vidhu Prabha, Rise Up Country Lead for India said, “Given the social, cultural, religious, and geographic diversity in India, there is tremendous value in Rise Up’s commitment to supporting local non-profit leaders who are best suited to identify the most urgent issues and solutions to achieve systemic change. Our multi-year partnership with Cummins makes this transformational change possible as we work toward greater equity in India and the world.”

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Cummins Powers Women program which has been driving change and empowering women and girls around the world. The program has served more than 27 million girls and women worldwide and invested $23 million in the effort since its inception in 2018. In India, CPW was launched in Mumbai in 2019 and has since then made significant progress in promoting gender equality through 26+ advocacy grants and the implementation of four government laws and policies that have impacted over 2.2 million women and girls.

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