Women participation on boards below global avg

New Delhi: The number of board seats held by women across India Inc has increased gradually over the past five years with them holding 18.3 per cent board seats in 2023, a Deloitte report said on Friday.

The ‘'Women in the boardroom: A global perspective’ report, however, said that it is lower than the global average of 23.3 per cent. The report by Deloitte Global Boardroom Program analysed more than 18,000 companies in 50 countries exploring representation of women in the boardroom. This includes analysis of 400 companies from India.

“Boardroom diversity requires a paradigm shift. Since many companies prefer to recruit board members with CEO or CFO experience, these numbers do not paint an optimistic outlook for pipeline development. India Inc. must break from historical patterns and prioritise capabilities over past roles,” Deloitte South Asia Chairperson Shefali Goradia said.

The report shows a gradual increase in the number of board seats held by women across India Inc, with women holding 18.3 per cent board seats in 2023, up from 13.8 per cent in 2018, and 17.1 per cent in 2021, said the report released on the International Women’s Day. India’s number is lower than the global average of 23.3 per cent, which has seen an increase of 3.6 per cent since 2022, reducing the timeline towards achieving parity by seven years – from 2045 to 2038.