Small cos narrow gender gap in top roles

India's boardrooms remain stubbornly gray, although some transformative strokes are visible.

- Abhinaba Saha & Niti Kiran

As women slowly move beyond mere presence to actively claim seats at the decision-making table, it's the smaller firms that are leading the charge.

A Mint analysis of data from primeinfobase.com for NSE-listed firms, categorized into market capitalization quartiles, reveals this trend. As of February 2025, the bottom quartile comprising smaller companies shows the highest share of women executive directors, at nearly 15%. In contrast, corporate giants, the ones in the top 25% bracket, have the lowest representation at nearly 8%.

Despite this disparity, there is slow but steady progress in firms embracing women in executive roles. The total share of executive directorships held by women across all NSE-listed companies has increased to 11.1% as of February 2025, from 8.4% as on 31 March 2019, according to data from primeinfobase.​com.