Why is India Inc so reluctant to place women on the top

If appointing women as directors to their boards without being forced by a regulatory directive was a criteria to judge the pro-women attitude of Indian companies, many fail miserably. Most listed companies appointed female directors only after they were given no option by the stock markets regulator. The deadline to appoint a woman director to listed companies is April 1. Yet, nearly 450 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange are dragging their feet on this requirement.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, has already warned of action against companies that fail to appoint at least one woman director by the deadline. This is not the first deadline that's expiring. SEBI had originally set October 1, 2014 as the deadline for listed companies to comply with the requirement, after the Companies Act 2013 said all listed companies and all public companies with paid up share capital of at least Rs 100 crore or turnover of Rs 300 crore have to appoint at least one woman to their boards. SEBI can issue orders only to listed companies while the Companies Act directives have to be followed by all companies, listed and non-listed, public and private.

India Inc never liked being forced to appoint women directors and vehemently opposed the move when it was first proposed to be made a clause in the Companies Act in the early 2000s. Many companies remain opposed, and that shows in their reluctance to comply. Significantly such opposition to women sitting on boards exists in many advanced countries too and it was only when governments made such appointments mandatory did women find their way into boardrooms in bigger numbers.

Excuses, excuses

Companies argue that there are not enough qualified woman who can be appointed to board positions. Others say if women are capable they will find their way to the boardrooms, without the crutches provided by the government. Many others are unwilling to look beyond the few sought after women professionals and most of these women are unwilling to sit on more than four boards, as they hold other professional responsibilities.

But it is a fallacy that there are not enough qualified and competent women around who can be elevated to board level. Consider for instance, the recent appointment of Aarthi Subramaniam to board position at software major Tata Consultancy Services. Subramaniam is TCS' global head of the delivery Excellence group and an example of a woman executive who was at a level just below of the board and could easily be groom for a board seat. There are several such woman executives within companies who can easily step up, if given that opportunity. Sought after women directors such as Renu Karnad Sud, Vinita Bali, Kalpana Morparia, Lalita Gupte, Chanda Kochhar and Punita Lal are among professionally qualified women executives who worked their way up to the top echelons of corporate world.

Indianboards.com, a joint initiative of Prime Database and NSE data, has a list of over 500 women who are keen to take up board positions and are yet to get a call from any company. Many of them happen to be well qualified and accomplished women executives.

Slow, steady change

Given corporate India's reluctance, this week's appointment of Ashu Suyash as the new managing director and CEO of ratings agency CRISIL was an encouraging development for women professionals. Suyash succeeds Roopa Kudva, who resigned last September, and her appointment marks a rare instance in Indian corporate history where one professional woman manager has succeeded another in a corner office. Between last September and now, many top listed companies have complied with the regulatory requirement. Kotak Mahindra Bank appointed Farida Khambata to sit on its board last September, Hindustan Unilever appointed Kalpana Morparia in October 2014 and Cipla appointed Punita Lal in November 2014.

But there remains many big names that are yet to comply. At the time of writing, companies such as Hero MotoCorp and Larsen & Toubro were yet to announce appointment of women to their boards. The government too is guilty of dragging its foot - at least three top PSUs did not have a woman on its board. These are ONGC, BPCL and Punjab National Bank.

It has been a steady progress. Early August 2014, as many as 850 of these companies did not have women on its board of directors. Now, it is down to under 450. And, yet miles to go.