Sebi chairman bats for more women participation on corporate boards

While there has been an improvement in gender diversity at the corporate board level in India, Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Ajay Tyagi feels that the current number of women representation on corporate boards is still very low as compared to the global average.

The number of women on corporate boards has been steadily increasing year-on-year and stands at around 17 percent for top 500 companies today. It was around 5-6 percent in 2014.

At an overall level, the figure stands at around 19 percent. In the OECD and developed countries, the figure is more than 25 percent, Sebi chief noted.

"... data shows that representation of women in key board committees such as the audit committee and nomination and remuneration committee remains quite low at around 7 percent. Clearly, we still have a long way to go," Tyagi said.

Speaking at 14th CII Corporate Governance Summit on Tuesday, Tyagi said, "It is not merely a social issue, there are several economic and governance benefits as well of bringing greater gender diversity on the Boards."

There is evidence-based research across the world that shows that companies having better gender diversity on their Board have generally outperformed financially those which did not have such diversity, he added.