Mumbai – Women hold 27.1 per cent of board seats at companies listed on the National Stock Exchange, and 5 per cent of managing director and chief executive positions. Both numbers describe the same corporate sector.
Data placed before the Lok Sabha in August 2026 sharpens the picture. Across the top 500 listed companies by turnover, women held 9 chief executive posts, 25 managing director roles, 67 executive directorships, 22 chief financial officer positions, and 638 independent directorships.
One of those numbers is unlike the others
638 independent directorships against 9 chief executives is not a gradient. It is a discontinuity, and it points to where the mandate bites.
SEBI requires large listed companies to have at least one woman independent director. Around 88 per cent of companies have one, and 21 per cent have two or more. Compliance has been achieved efficiently, through the one channel that does not require changing how anyone is promoted.
The pipeline narrows at every step
Women are 23 per cent of employees at listed companies, 14 per cent of key managerial personnel, 10 per cent of executive directors, and 5 per cent of managing directors or chief executives.
Each step loses roughly a third of the remaining share. A board seat filled from outside does nothing about that, because independent directors are recruited rather than promoted.
What the next requirement will and will not fix
From 1 April 2027, listed companies with market capitalisation of 10,000 crore rupees or more must have at least one-third of their independent directors be women, with a transition through FY 2026-27.
It will raise board representation again. It will not touch the executive pipeline, because it operates on the same channel that produced the discontinuity. Gender diversity is an assured BRSR Core attribute, and the assured figure is workforce composition rather than board composition, which is the more honest measure.
Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs data presented to the Lok Sabha in August 2026, and NSE-listed company board composition analysis for FY 2024-25.
